Baffert's KHRC appeal to be heard Wednesday with new hearing officer
The hearing officer who is presiding over an appeal by Bob Baffert of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s decision to suspend him and disqualify his 2021 Kentucky Derby winner has called for a hearing into the matter on Wednesday afternoon in Frankfort.
Eden Davis Stephens, the hearing officer, will hear oral arguments from Baffert’s legal advisors and the KHRC’s legal counsel during the hearing, according to officials involved. Each side has been allotted 75 minutes for their arguments.
Stephens was appointed hearing officer in the case after the former 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.
Stephens has reviewed all of the transcripts from the six-day hearing, and she has allowed attorneys for both sides to make additional filings in the case. The hearing on Wednesday will give her an opportunity to ask questions pertaining to the attorneys’ arguments, officials said.
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 Derby. Baffert served the suspension but appealed the decision through the channels provided to licensees under Kentucky racing regulations, which calls for appeals to be heard by a hearing officer.
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.
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