“He’s upset on multiple levels,” attorney
After his defiant, early reaction to the Medina Spirit drug controversy, Bob Baffert has deferred to his legal team for comment during the last nine months of sample testing, regulatory wrangling and courthouse drama over the 2021 Kentucky Derby.
It was much the same thing Monday in the blush of a stewards ruling to disqualify the deceased colt from his victory last May 1 because of a urine test that turned up a trace amount of betamethasone. Baffert’s Kentucky-based attorney did not mince words about the Hall of Fame trainer’s reaction.
“He’s very upset, which I get, as he should be,” said Craig Robertson told Horse Racing Nation. “He’s upset on multiple levels. First of all, to have that victory taken away is extremely disappointing. Then there was the rather hefty and lengthy suspension that was put on him that I think is completely outside the bounds of the rules. That’s upsetting to him as well.”
In addition to a $7,500 fine, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission suspended Baffert for a 90-day period that covers March 8-June 5. Because other racing jurisdictions routinely honor suspensions from other states, that would cover the entire Triple Crown series in Kentucky, Maryland and New York. But Robertson promised an immediate appeal, which could set aside that part of the penalty.
“The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission will appoint a hearing officer to oversee the case,” Robertson said. “Some type of general schedule will be put in place that will allow the parties to engage in some discovery, exchange documents, take some depositions with the goal of an ultimate hearing in front of that hearing officer sometime down the road. My guess is several months down the road.”
There is also the matter of the two-year ban that Churchill Downs Inc. imposed on Baffert and his stable, keeping him from qualifying his horses for this year’s Kentucky Derby and Oaks. Baffert is expected to appeal that, too, but that matter is in the hands of his Oklahoma-based attorney Clark Brewster, who was not available for immediate comment Monday afternoon.
Like last Monday’s hearing before three racing stewards, the appeal to the KHRC would be behind closed doors, according to Robertson.
“That being said, then the step that would go beyond that is the right to appeal to the court system following a decision by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Once you get in the court system, then everything is a matter of public record. The entirety of what was presented to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission would be part of the record that would go to the court system. So ultimately, all of that will be public and transparent.”
The gist of Baffert’s case is that the betamethasone given to Medina Spirit was in an ointment and different from what his team said was specifically prohibited, namely the chemical compound in an injection.
“The rules are clear and only deal with an injection of betamethasone acetate,” Robertson said. “There’s no rules and no prohibition against topical betamethasone, which is betamethasone valerate. … Why the stewards did what they did and didn’t see it that way, I don’t know. They didn’t enlighten us in their ruling. They just issued the ruling that they did.”
The ruling posted Monday said Medina Spirit’s positive test “contained betamethasone in blood” without any further delineation.
“We asked the stewards to make specific findings in that regard to specifically address those particular issues,” Robertson said. “Because we said the public is going to want to know. And we want to know. The fact is they chose to gloss over all of that and ignore all that. It’s very disappointing.”
