Justify, Hoppertunity connections file lawsuit to block hearing on scopolamine positives

The connections of Justify and Hoppertunity have filed a legal challenge to a decision by the California Horse Racing Board to hold hearings over whether the horses should have been disqualified from races they won in 2018.

The petition, which was filed in California Superior Court on Tuesday on behalf of the horse’s owners, riders, and their trainer, Bob Baffert, seeks a ruling that would block the CHRB from allowing hearings to go forward on the potential disqualifications. The CHRB agreed to hold the hearings earlier this year as part of a settlement with Mick Ruis, the owner-trainer of Bolt d’Oro, who finished second in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby to Justify.

Ruis had contended in a lawsuit filed earlier this year 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. The board similarly dismissed a scopolamine finding from Hoppertunity after a win in the Tokyo City Cup one day after the Santa Anita Derby.

The petition filed by the connections of both horses argues that reopening the cases is a violation of the connections’ due-process rights and the CHRB’s own regulations.

“The CHRB already considered and dismissed these matters over two years ago and has no authority, let alone basis, to re-open them,” the petition states. “Its attempt to do so violates the CHRB’s own governing statutes, regulations, and rules, as well as petitioners’ constitutional rights to due process.”

The hearings were initially scheduled for Sept. 20, but the dates were pushed back to Oct. 29.

Ruis had argued that the CRHB was required to disqualify the horses because scopolamine was listed in CHRB regulations at the time of the positives as a Class 3 drug. Under those rules, any complaint for a positive for a Class 1, 2, or 3 drug required a disqualification.

The CHRB settled the suit with Ruis in early August, with the settlement agreement stating that the CHRB would be required to issue formal complaints in the two incidents. The CHRB reclassified scopolamine as a Class 4 drug by the end of 2018, and since then it has issued warnings to trainers who have had positives for the substance, which can be found in jimsonweed, an environmental contaminant.

The petition filed Tuesday argued that the CHRB could not agree to file a complaint as a condition of a settlement.

“The CHRB has admitted it has issued it complaints and is holding a hearing simply to dispose of a civil action brought against it by a race runner-up and solely as a way to avoid further litigation and expense in that lawsuit,” the petition said. “The CHRB’s conduct is arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful.”