Baffert KHRC appeal hearing postponed
A hearing scheduled for Wednesday to hear Bob Baffert’s appeal of a suspension handed down by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission last year has been postponed because one of the attorneys involved has fallen ill, representatives of both Baffert and the KHRC confirmed on Tuesday.
The hearing was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Frankfort. A make-up date for the hearing has not been determined yet, the representatives said.
Eden Davis Stephens, a hearing officer appointed by the KHRC, was scheduled to hear oral arguments from Baffert’s legal advisors and the KHRC’s legal counsel during the hearing, with each side allotted 75 minutes for their arguments.
The hearing was called so that Stephens could probe the attorneys on their legal arguments in the case. Stephens was appointed to the role late last year after the previous hearing officer, Clay Patrick, recused himself one month after presiding over a six-day appeals hearing in August of last year. Patrick made the decision to recuse himself from the appeal after one of Baffert’s attorneys, Clark Brewster, purchased a yearling he co-owned at the Keeneland September yearling sale.
Baffert was issued a 90-day suspension by the KHRC eight months after a horse he trained, Medina Spirit, tested positive for the regulated medication betamethasone after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Baffert served the suspension but appealed the decision.
Baffert is banned by Churchill Downs from participating in this year’s Derby, and most of his leading 3-year-olds have already been transferred out of his barn. The appeal of the KHRC penalties will have no impact on that ban regardless of when the hearing is held.
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