Judge denies petition to halt Justify hearing

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Thursday denied a petition by the connections of Justify seeking to block an upcoming stewards’ hearing over whether the horse should be disqualified from the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, according to officials involved in the case.

Darrell Vienna, an attorney for the owner-breeder Mick Ruis, said on Thursday afternoon that the petition was denied by Judge James C. Chalfant during a hearing on the motion earlier that day. A spokesman for the California Horse Racing Board, which objected to the petition in the court hearing, also said that the judge had denied the request for a temporary restraining order.

“We are pleased that Judge Chalfant saw through this flimsy attempt to delay or avoid a long overdue and proper treatment” of the case involving Justify, Vienna said in a prepared statement.

The connections of Justify had filed the petition earlier this week, objecting to the CHRB’s decision earlier this year to forward a formal complaint to the stewards requiring a hearing into the 2018 Derby result. The decision to file the complaint was part of an agreement between the CHRB and Ruis to settle a lawsuit Ruis had filed early in the year.

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The hearing remains scheduled for Oct. 29, according to Mike Marten, a spokesman for the board.

Ruis had contended in the lawsuit that the board was required to disqualify Justify from the 2018 Derby because of a post-race positive for scopolamine. The board had dismissed the positive without filing a complaint after conducting an investigation and concluding that the positive was the result of accidental contamination.

Ruis was the owner and trainer of Bolt d’Oro, the second-place horse in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, which had a purse of $1 million.

The petition filed by the connections of Justify contended that the board could not agree to file a complaint as part of a settlement of a lawsuit. It also argued that the board had no legal authority to reopen the case.

The board had similarly dismissed a scopolamine finding from Hoppertunity after a win in the Tokyo City Cup one day after the Santa Anita Derby. After the Ruis settlement, the board issued a formal complaint in that case as well, and the Oct. 29 hearing will also consider the disqualification of Hoppertunity from that race.