Judge rules NYRA must pay Baffert attorney fees

A federal judge has ruled that the New York Racing Association must pay Bob Baffert nearly $110,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs related to his decision to seek an injunction preventing NYRA from enforcing a ban of the trainer issued in May.

In her ruling, Judge Carol Bagley Anon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York cited several precedents in determining that Baffert was entitled to attorneys’ fees and costs. The precedents, she wrote, were applicable to the Baffert case, in which Bagley ruled that NYRA had violated Baffert’s due-process rights when she granted him the preliminary injunction in July.

In those precedents, Bagley ruled, courts had held that the award of attorneys’ fees was necessary when “the defendant ultimately avoided final resolution of the merits . . . by enacting new [rules] giving . . . virtually all of the relief sought in the complaint.” Following the granting of the preliminary injunction, NYRA adopted protocols for internal hearings and issued a complaint against Baffert. The hearing is scheduled to begin Jan. 24.

“Rather than appeal the preliminary injunction, NYRA changed its suspension procedures such that trainers can no longer be suspended without a pre-suspension hearing,” Bagley wrote.

Baffert had sought as much as $160,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs, and Bagley devoted a large portion of her ruling to consider arguments from NYRA that the fees were based on unreasonable rates before deciding on the $110,000 figure.

In a statement released after the ruling, NYRA spokesman Patrick McKenna said that the association “remains focused on protecting the integrity of the sport of Thoroughbred racing in New York and ensuring it is conducted safely. To that end, NYRA will conduct an independent hearing on January 24 to determine whether Mr. Baffert has engaged in conduct that is detrimental to the best interests of the sport or potentially injurious to the safety of horses and riders.”

NYRA issued a ban of Baffert in May, shortly after the trainer acknowledged that a horse he trained, Medina Spirit, tested positive for the regulated anti-inflammatory medication betamethasone after winning the Kentucky Derby. In its ban, NYRA cited the Medina Spirit positive and Baffert’s recent history of positives for regulated medications and statements he made following the Derby denying that the horse received betamethasone.

Bagley granted the preliminary injunction in mid-July, allowing the trainer to run horses at the prestigious Saratoga Race Course meet. The parties have since sparred in legal filings over the issues arising out of the plans for a hearing.