Baffert attorney files motion counterattacking NYRA's pursuit of suspension

An attorney for Bob Baffert officially filed a motion on Wednesday asking a court to find the New York Racing Association in “civil contempt” for scheduling a hearing to consider a ban of the trainer at the association’s tracks.

Craig Robertson, the attorney, filed the motion one day after informing the judge in the case, Carol Bagley Anon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, that the motion was pending. Robertson argued in both the letter and the motion that Anon’s stay of an earlier suspension issued by NYRA against Baffert precluded NYRA from going forward with a separate action to issue a new ban.

“The court has already warned NYRA concerning its efforts to suspend Baffert indefinitely and without due process of law,” Robertson wrote in the motion. “Clearly, and despite the existing injunction, NYRA believes it may nonetheless disregard any traditional constitutional safeguards and proceed however it wants. This behavior is precisely what Baffert’s injunction was intended to halt.”

NYRA issued an indefinite ban on Baffert on May 17, approximately a week after the trainer said that his Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, tested positive for the regulated painkiller betamethasone. Baffert then sought a court order invalidating the ban, citing violations of his due-process rights, and he received a temporary restraining order from Anon that stayed the ban until his court case could be heard.

But in early September, NYRA announced that it had adopted new protocols to conduct hearings, and it sent a letter to Baffert informing him that the association would consider a new suspension under those hearing protocols starting Sept. 27. (Both Robertson and NYRA have agreed to push the hearing to Oct. 11.)

A NYRA spokesman, Patrick McKenna, said on Wednesday that the association’s response to the letter filed by Robertson on Tuesday remained its public response to the latest filing.

“The current NYRA hearing proceeding was independently commenced pursuant to NYRA’s common-law and regulatory authority to exclude licensees, subject to the requirements of due process,” McKenna wrote. McKenna said that the new hearing is in “compliance” with the court’s earlier ruling to stay the suspension.

The motion filed on Wednesday asks the judge to “admonish NYRA for its behavior” and seeks fines and legal fees. The motion characterized the new hearing protocols as a “sham” in which “NYRA controls the outcome of the hearing, refuses to tell him what punishment he may face, and gives him no right to appeal.”

On Tuesday, Anon had notified the parties that any motion by Robertson was due on Wednesday, and that NYRA had until Sept. 29 to respond to the motion. Anon scheduled arguments for the motion on Oct. 5.