Baltas sues CHRB claiming violation of due process

The trainer Richard Baltas has filed a lawsuit claiming that the California Horse Racing Board violated his due-process rights when it issued a summary suspension of the trainer in May after alleging that video surveillance captured images of his employees administering substances to horses on the day they were entered to race.

The suit, filed in California Superior Court for the Country of Los Angeles, is seeking $12 million in damages, alleging “malice and oppression” by the CHRB and its staff.

“As a result of the CHRB's conduct, Baltas could not enter any horses at California racetracks from May 8, 2022, through the present date, thereby costing him many thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, and stands to lose many millions of dollars in damages in an amount to be determined at jury trial for lost earnings, the loss of clients who entrusted their horses training to him, and an irrevocable damage to his reputation,” the lawsuit claims.

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The CHRB issued the order after commission staff reviewed video surveillance of Baltas’s shed row from April 15 until that date. According to the CHRB, an employee of Baltas was seen administering a substance from an oral dose syringe into the mouths of 22 different horses on separate racedays.

Baltas’s suit claims that the CHRB has not produced any evidence that the syringes contained substances prohibited under California’s racing statutes. The horses also did not test positive for any illegal substances after their races, the suit claims.

The CHRB has said that an oral syringe confiscated from Baltas’s shedrow on March 8 tested positive for two substances, higenamine and paenol, that fall under the CHRB’s rules on prohibited substances. Higenamine, purportedly a stimulant, is listed as a prohibited substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency, while paenol is reportedly an anti-inflammatory agent.

The lawsuit claims that both substances are “organic liquids found naturally in Chinese herbs.”

The CHRB has alleged that the product given to the horses was a supplement called X-Treme Air Boost created by a compounding company. Products created by compounding companies do not have to be tested by the FDA for efficacy or quality control.

An advertisement for the product refers to “a proprietary blend of the highest quality ingredients including botanicals, herbs and vitamins.” It recommends administering the product “4-6 hours pre-event,” but the fine print says that the term “event” refers to “sport horses, not racing.”

In the suit, Baltas acknowledges that his employee administered a dose of the substance to the horse entered to race on May 8 (the horse was subsequently scratched). However, the suit contends that it was administered “contrary to Baltas instructions to administer the product well in advance of race day” to comply with CHRB regulations. The lawsuit also states that the two substances are organic and allowed to be administered under CHRB exceptions for “water and food” on raceday.

Baltas is tentatively scheduled to appear at a formal hearing before Los Alamitos stewards on Sept. 14 regarding the racing board's complaint.

Prior to the suspension being issued, Baltas had won 26 starts from 184 races this year, for $2.1 million in purse earnings. For his career, he has won 722 races from 4,266 starts, with $44 million in purse earnings.