NYRA amends Baffert complaint to include two Bute positives from 2019

The New York Racing Association has produced an amended complaint against the trainer Bob Baffert that adds references to two positives for the regulated medication phenylbutazone from 2019 and a barn search conducted by the California Horse Racing Board shortly thereafter, according to a copy of the complaint.

The references were added to a statement of charges that NYRA initially delivered to Baffert in September as part of a process to hold a disciplinary hearing that could result in NYRA banning the trainer. NYRA adopted protocols to hold internal hearings just prior to issuing the statement of charges, after a federal judge in New York said that an earlier ban issued by NYRA violated Baffert’s due-process rights.

The hearing, which will be administered by a retired New York State Supreme Court justice, is scheduled to begin Jan. 24. A NYRA official said the new complaint was delivered to Baffert and his attorney, Craig Robertson, on Dec. 23. Robertson confirmed receiving the amended complaint on Monday.

Specifically, the additional references stem from two stewards’ rulings issued late in 2019 after two of Baffert’s horses tested positive for phenylbutazone, a painkiller, after running in races in late July and early August at Del Mar. Baffert was fined $500 for the first positive and $1,500 for the second positive. Phenylbutazone is not permitted above certain levels in horses on raceday.

Robertson said in a statement issued to a request for comment that the two medication positives were for “minor bute overages,” and he was critical of NYRA’s ongoing attempt to ban Baffert.

“NYRA’s attempt to take matters into its own hands, and to revisit historical cases that are outside of its jurisdiction, and that were decided long ago, is just another example of it continuing to act outside of horse racing’s regulatory framework in its effort to singularly and vindictively target Mr. Baffert,” Robertson wrote.

The statement of charges also references a search of Baffert’s barn at Del Mar conducted in August by the CHRB that found improperly labeled medications and an unlocked medication cabinet.

NYRA has alleged in its statement of charges that Baffert has engaged in “conduct detrimental to racing” as a justification for a proposed ban, citing a string of positives for regulated medications over the past several years. In last year’s Kentucky Derby, the Baffert-trained Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone, a corticosteroid. The case has not yet been adjudicated.

NYRA also added references in its statement of charges to actions that have occurred since the Derby, including Churchill Downs’s adoption of a policy that precludes any horse trained by Baffert from earning points in Derby prep races for the next two years. Churchill had earlier banned Baffert from running in the Derby through 2023.