Judge to hear Zedan request for Kentucky Derby injunction

A Kentucky Circuit Court judge in Jefferson County has scheduled a hearing for Monday to consider a request for a temporary injunction that would permit Amr Zedan to start his horse Muth in this year’s Kentucky Derby despite a ban placed by Churchill Downs on the colt’s trainer.

The judge, Mitch Perry, scheduled the hearing after a brief appearance by attorneys for Zedan and Churchill Downs Inc. in his courtroom on Monday morning.

Zedan filed a lawsuit last week in the court that seeks to lift the ban only four weeks before the Derby is scheduled to be run. In the suit, Zedan argued that Churchill’s ban on Baffert, which the company extended last July 1 to run through the 2024 Derby, “has no basis in law or in fact.” The suit asks the judge to lift the ban so that Muth, the winner of the Arkansas Derby, can run.

“We are pleased with today’s hearing and the schedule set by the court,” said a spokesperson for Zedan, in a statement issued after an inquiry. "We look forward to addressing the actual substance of our case before the court at Monday’s hearing.”

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Zedan bought Muth for $2 million in the spring of 2023, while the original ban on Baffert was still in place. Despite that, he sent the colt to Baffert, who has trained the horse to a record of four wins in six starts with earnings of $1.5 million.

Under the ban, Churchill does not allow horses trained by Baffert to earn qualifying points toward entry in the Derby field.

Early last year, Zedan provided testimony in a lawsuit filed by Baffert against CDI to get the ban lifted. The U.S. District Court judge in that case issued a summary judgment for CDI.

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