NYRA seeks to dismiss four of five counts in Baffert lawsuit

The New York Racing Association has asked a judge to dismiss four of the five counts alleged in a lawsuit filed by Bob Baffert seeking to nullify the association’s ban of the trainer.

The filing by NYRA’s attorneys on Tuesday night in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York seeks to pare Baffert’s claim to a single count of deprivation of due process, a claim that the judge in the case, Carol Bagley Anon, has already supported in an earlier ruling. The NYRA filing asks the court to dismiss the other four claims “with prejudice,” which would preclude Baffert from challenging a ruling with an appeal.

The four counts that NYRA wants thrown out deal with Baffert’s request for a permanent injunction and declaratory judgment, plus claims of “tortious interference” and a violation of New York state law.

A response filed the same night by Baffert’s attorneys called the NYRA motion “meritless.”

NYRA first suspended Baffert in mid-May, after the trainer acknowledged that a horse he trains, Medina Spirit, tested positive for the regulated anti-inflammatory medication betamethasone after winning the Kentucky Derby. The case has not been adjudicated by Kentucky regulators.

Anon stayed the first ban, but she later ruled that NYRA can go ahead with a separate internal hearing process to consider a ban of Baffert. That hearing will not begin until Jan. 24.