Baffert seeks emergency injunction for suspension stay in Kentucky Court of Appeals

Attorneys for the trainer Bob Baffert on Thursday filed an appeal of a judge’s decision earlier this week to deny him a stay of a 90-day suspension set to go into effect on April 4, seeking an emergency injunction.

The motion, filed in the Kentucky Court of Appeals, is Baffert’s last means of recourse to get a stay delaying the onset of the suspension. On Monday, Judge Thomas Wingate of the Franklin County Circuit Court in Kentucky upheld a decision by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to deny the stay, but he had asked the KHRC to set an April 4 start date for the suspension to allow Baffert to appeal his decision.

The appeal argues that the KHRC’s decision to deny the stay “deviated from the manner in which it treats literally every other trainer” and says that Baffert will suffer “irreparable harm” if he is forced to disband his stable because of the April 4 suspension while he appeals the penalties in front of the commission later in April.

“Prior to this case, the KHRC has never denied a trainer’s request to stay implementation of preliminary penalties while those rulings are appealed,” a motion for an emergency injunction, filed with the appeal, states. “Never. Not once. Until now.”

Wingate had ruled that the KHRC was well within its rights to deny a stay, writing that racing statutes in Kentucky clearly contemplated the KHRC denying stays of penalties handed down by state racing stewards. He had also said that arguments made by Baffert’s attorneys during a hearing last week did not hold water under scrutiny, including a contention that the suspension would “end the career of a Hall of Fame trainer,” as Baffert’s attorneys had said.

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Wingate had also included an analysis of Baffert’s appeal of the case underlying the penalty and wrote that his attorneys “have failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success.”

Kentucky stewards issued the penalty in February after a horse Baffert trained, Medina Spirit, tested positive for the regulated corticosteroid betamethasone after winning last year’s Kentucky Derby. Baffert’s attorneys have argued that the positive was due to the use of an ointment to treat a skin condition in the horse, and that Kentucky’s rules do not apply to the use of the cream, which they said was applied daily up until the day before the Derby, under a prescription from Baffert’s vet.

Under the ruling, Medina Spirit was also disqualified from the Derby, and Baffert was fined $7,500.

The suspension was initially scheduled to start on March 8, but Wingate pushed back the start date after Baffert filed an appeal of the penalties and the KHRC’s executive director denied the stay. Days later, the decision to deny the stay was ratified by the full KHRC board.

Baffert’s appeal of the KHRC penalties is scheduled to begin on April 14. The case will be heard by a hearing officer appointed by the KHRC. It typically takes four to six months to fully adjudicate an appeal. If Baffert is dissatisfied with the result of that appeal, his next means of recourse would be civil court.

Baffert’s attorneys filed the motion for emergency relief in the appeals court on the same day that Baffert and representatives of his owners confirmed that four of the leading 3-year-old horses in his barn have been transferred to other trainers. Shortly after the Derby last year, Churchill Downs Inc. banned Baffert from all of its tracks through the 2023 Derby and modified a system determining eligibility for this year’s Derby to exclude any horses trained by Baffert.

Baffert’s lawyers have filed a lawsuit against the ban, and they are hoping that the judge in the case hears arguments for a temporary injunction prior to the Derby being held.