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Baffert Attorneys: ‘It Does Not Serve The Integrity Of Horse Racing To Suspend First And Ask Questions Later’

Just five days before a scheduled hearing, attorneys for embattled trainer Bob Baffert filed a 434-page memorandum supporting their attempt to convince the court to overturn the New York Racing Association's ban on Baffert. According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, Baffert's attorneys allege that NYRA has “vindictively” targeted the trainer utilizing “hypocrisy” and “backdoor” tactics. The filing also zeroes in on two legal arguments: that the ban violates the trainer's right to due process, and that NYRA has no authority to issue a ban.

“Nowhere in NYRA's Response is there any contention that Baffert has violated any New York statute or racing rule,” the memo states. “In fact, the opposite is true. Over the course of his 46-year training career, including more than 30 years of racing in New York, Baffert has never even been accused of violating a New York rule and he has never faced discipline from either NYRA or the New York State Gaming Commission [NYSGC].

“Despite his distinguished New York racing career, without even a hint of wrongdoing, NYRA believes it has free rein to unilaterally void his constitutionally protected property rights and ban him from all activity in New York without notice and for an indefinite period of time based solely on unproven allegations of a minor infraction (an overage of an allowable medication) in another jurisdiction.”

Baffert filed suit against NYRA on June 14, nearly a month after the racing association notified the Hall of Fame trainer that he was temporarily banned from racing or stabling at NYRA tracks while the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission conducts its investigation into the post-race drug positive for Baffert-trained Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first in the May 1 Kentucky Derby. Baffert is seeking a temporary and permanent injunction against the ban.

As defendant in the case, NYRA filed a memorandum of law on June 30 in opposition to Baffert's motion for preliminary injunction. The Jockey Club filed a brief on that same date as amicus curiae, or friend of the court, claiming that its role as keeper of the Stud Book gives it a “unique interest in ensuring that when Thoroughbreds enter the breeding shed (where they determine the future of the breed through progeny), they do so with records uninfluenced by the effects of medication.”

Both those court filings struck the same note, countering Baffert's argument that he will suffer irreparable harm as a result of his ban from Belmont Park and the upcoming high-profile meeting at Saratoga.

In response, the July 7 memo from Baffert's attorneys argues: “There is no compensating for the missed opportunity to participate in prestigious races that define the success of a trainer's career and garner goodwill with clients. NYRA's argument that Baffert cannot prove irreparable harm because he can still race in other states is missing the mark. First, there is no meet more prestigious than Saratoga and the gravitas and economic benefit that come from New York racing cannot be overstated. (…) Baffert's runners in New York win almost three times the amount that they do outside New York. This demonstrates the importance of NYRA racing to Baffert despite the fact that he races in other jurisdictions.”

NYRA's June 30 memo contends that the decision to ban Baffert “was based on probable cause that plaintiff's actions warranted suspension and was necessary to protect the safety of the racehorses and their riders, and required to ensure the integrity of the sport.”

Baffert's attorneys insist that NYRA acting on behalf of the sport's integrity is a “false narrative.”

“The fact NYRA routinely allows onto its tracks trainers who have actually been found to have broken New York's rules of racing completely shatters that false narrative,” their July 7 memo states. “NYRA smears Baffert with allegations about other positive tests, without providing the critical context of those, including that they involved minor overages of permitted substances, none of which merited a suspension and some of which, Baffert was, for all practical purposes, vindicated. … It does not serve the 'integrity' of horse racing to suspend first and ask questions later.”

A hearing on the motion for injunctive relief is scheduled for July 12.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

Additional stories about Baffert's Kentucky Derby positive and ensuing legal battles, listed in order from most recent to the original story:

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‘I Learned From My Mistake’: Mahmood Al Zarooni Returns To Training After Eight-Year Ban

Former Godolphin trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni is to restart his training career in the UAE with a mission to “clean my name”.

Al Zarooni served an eight-year steroids ban, which he completed in April 2021, and is setting up a public stable at Sharjah racecourse.

“I applied for my licence to the Emirates Racing Authority and they approved it,” he said. “I want to come back and show that Mahmood wasn't cheating. I want to clean my name.

“I made a big mistake and I learned from my mistake. I want to prove that I was clean, I was trying my best to be clean but this mistake happened.”

Al Zarooni, 45, trained three Classic winners during his time in charge of one of Sheikh Mohammed's two Newmarket stables. However, he was cast out of the sport in disgrace when he was disqualified for eight years by a BHA disciplinary panel after 11 horses in his care tested positive for the anabolic steroids ethylestranol and stanozolol.

The ban was reciprocated worldwide but now Al Zarooni is free to work again in horse racing and has formed a partnership with Marwan Abdul Rahman, who has been working as an assistant trainer in Dubai.

“Marwan had talked to me about doing something together,” said Al Zarooni. “When my ban finished and I got my clearance for the BHA we decided to have a public stable and we will be based in the Sharjah Equestrian Club.

“Sheikh Adbullah Bin Majid [chairman of Sharjah Equestrian and Racing Club] is one of the founders of the sport of horse racing here and has always been a grateful supporter to all small trainers and owners. I have been one of them during my early days before joining Godolphin. I would like to thank him for his support and hope my second rising will be from his center.

“Sharjah has everything you need in terms of facilities so I hope we can do good,” he went on. “I hope owners will support us. I would like to have some international owners, especially English owners, because I receive many messages from them asking me to come to Newmarket. I love and miss Newmarket but it's difficult to do that at this time.

Al Zarooni added: “Marwan is a horse guy, he's been an assistant trainer for about four years. I think we can do good.

“The stable is ready and we have around 20 horses there already. I have been visiting every two or three days but from next month I will be full time. We have to start from the bottom and see where we can reach. It won't be easy.”

As a Godolphin trainer, Al Zarooni's major wins included the 1,000 Guineas and Oaks with Blue Bunting in 2011, the Dubai Sheema Classic and Prince of Wales's Stakes with Rewilding the same year, and the Dubai World Cup in 2012 with Monterosso.

He recorded his last Classic victory with Encke, who in landing the 2012 St Leger denied Camelot an historic Triple Crown after the Coolmore colt had won the 2,000 Guineas and Derby.

Al Zarooni has claimed the use of steroids was for therapeutic treatment on horses out of training and not to cheat. In Dubai, the administration of steroids was permitted out of competition until May 2013.

“Eight years was too harsh,” he said. “I am not saying I shouldn't have been punished. I had to be punished, but I think eight years was like a sentence for killing someone. I thought they would ban me for three years, four years maximum. So I am still feeling bitter.

He added: “I am very happy to be back doing what I like. It's been a very tough eight years. Working with horses is like a drug, so to be away from them hurt. I am very happy that I will be with them again.

“I am sure it will be a very difficult time to start with the coronavirus situation as there is a shortage of Asian riders and I am too heavy to ride. We will start from zero again and try our best.”

This story was reprinted with permission by Horse Racing Planet. Find the original piece and more content here.

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New Jersey Commission Bans Aparna Battula 2 1/2 Years, Issues $7,500 Fine

Trainer Aparna Battula has had her license suspended 2 1/2 years and been fined $7,500 dollars by the New Jersey Racing Commission following a case in which investigators confiscated 83 injectable medication vials and 36 needles from her Monmouth Park tack room on July 29, 2019, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News.

Stewards had originally voted to impose a nine-year suspension with an $18,500 fine, but Battula appealed, and an administrative law judge (ALJ) later recommended a ban of two years with a $6,500 fine.

“Although the final decision accepts most of the ALJ's findings and conclusions, it rejects the ALJ's use of the criminal merger doctrine and her recommended penalties,” said NJRC chair Pamela Clyne at Wednesday's meeting. “The final decision finds that the appropriate penalties for possession of the vials, needles and drugs are a one-year and six-month suspension and a $5,000 fine.

“The final decision also adopts the ALJ's imposition of a one-year suspension and a $2,500 fine for injecting the horse at Monmouth Park in July 2019. Considering the trainer's penalty history, which includes two other drug positives, the final decision concludes that the appropriate penalties in this matter are suspensions totaling two years and six months and fines totaling $7,500. Finally, the final decision also clarifies that the rule prohibits possession of the injectable bottles as well as possession of the prohibited drugs that may be in them.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Embattled Trainer Elliott: ‘I Have Let The Whole Racing Industry Down’

Trainer Gordon Elliott spoke to the Racing Post on Tuesday about the fallout from an image that went viral on social media this weekend. The three-time Grand National-winning trainer has been banned from racing in Britain, and is under investigation by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board due to the nature of the photograph, in which Elliott appears astride a stricken horse on the ground while making a peace sign. Some versions of the image have the caption “New work rider.”

The trainer said he deeply regrets the actions depicted in the photograph, which the Paulick Report has elected not to publish.

“It is indefensible,” Elliott told the Racing Post. “Whether alive or dead, the horse was entitled to dignity. A moment of madness that I am going to have to spend the rest of my life paying for and that my staff are suffering for.

“My heart goes out to all my staff. I know how hard they work. I know that I have not only let them down but that I have let the whole racing industry down too. That is down to my stupidity and I am truly, truly sorry.”