KHRC calls pharmacology, testing experts to testify at Baffert hearing

A hearing into an appeal by the trainer Bob Baffert of a 90-day suspension he served earlier this year and the disqualification of Medina Spirit from last year’s Kentucky Derby continued on Wednesday with two witnesses called by attorneys representing the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, according to officials involved in the appeal.

The attorneys elicited testimony from Dr. Heather Knych, an equine pharmacology expert at the University of California-Davis and the director of the university’s equine testing lab, and Petra Hartmann, the director of Horse Testing Services at Industrial Labs in Colorado. Both witnesses were cross-examined by Baffert’s attorneys.

The two witnesses were the only ones called to the stand over the entire course of the eight-hour hearing on Wednesday, which took place in an office building in Frankfort, Ky. The hearing is scheduled to continue on Thursday but will recess afterward until next Monday.

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The KHRC indicated to the hearing officer, Clay Patrick, a Frankfort attorney, that they intended to call four more witnesses to the stand as part of their case. Baffert’s attorneys then plan to call four to six witnesses as part of their case, according to one of his attorneys, Craig Robertson.

As per Kentucky’s statutes on appeals, Patrick will issue a report following the conclusion of the hearing that will include “findings of fact,” “conclusions of law,” and a recommended course of action. The report will be issued to the full Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which will then vote on whether to accept or reject the hearing officer’s recommendation.

Baffert is seeking to have his 90-day suspension reversed on appeal, despite having already served the penalty. Baffert was suspended in February by Kentucky stewards after Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone, a regulated anti-inflammatory drug, after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Baffert served the suspension after the commission and a judge refused to stay the penalty while he appealed the decision.

Baffert’s attorneys have argued that Kentucky’s rules about betamethasone do not apply to ointments containing the medication, and they claim that evidence they have gathered confirms that the horse was treated with an ointment, and not injected with the drug. On Monday, Baffert testified during the first day of the hearing that the horse was treated with an ointment, Otomax, that contained the drug.

Attorneys representing the KHRC have been building a case that Kentucky’s rules do not contain exceptions for the presence of betamethasone in a sample on raceday, and that the route of administration is immaterial to a finding of a drug.

Medina Spirt was disqualified as a result of the positive, and the horse’s owner, Amr Zedan, is also seeking to have the disqualification nullified as a part of the appeal. Medina Spirt died of a suspected cardiac event after a workout in December at Santa Anita Park in Southern California.