Bob Baffert Prepared To Take On Churchill Downs In A Legal Showdown

Clark Brewster, the high-powered Tulsa, Okla. defense attorney who represents Bob Baffert, said he expects to not only see the Hall of Fame horse trainer at Churchill Downs on May 7, but that Baffert will be in a familiar spot after the Kentucky Derby is run.

“I’d say it’s a likelihood that (Baffert) will be standing in that winner’s circle this year,” Brewster said.

Brewster’s confidence in his client being able to enter horses in the storied “Run for the Roses” comes during an ongoing controversy swirling around the white-haired veteran trainer, whose horses have won the Derby seven times.

It’s been almost a year since the Baffert-trained horse Medina Spirit won the 2021 Derby, but following the euphoria of that victory, the colt tested positive for a banned corticosteroid, betamethasone. Churchill Downs followed by slapping Baffert with a two-year suspension, while the New York Racing Association issued Baffert a temporary suspension.

In a New York Times story published Monday, it was reported that Baffert’s camp is planning to file a lawsuit against Churchill Downs, contesting the suspension. Its chief executive, Bill Carstanjen, is quoted in the Times story saying any threat of litigation is “completely meritless.” Carstanjen also said in the story that it’s possible a countersuit would be filed against Baffert.

NytimesChurchill Downs Draws a Hard Line With Bob Baffert

Carstanjen and Churchill Downs representatives did not return multiple messages requesting comment. Last year, Carstanjen issued a statement following Baffert’s suspension, lambasting the trainer: “Reckless practices and substance violations that jeopardize the safety of our equine and human athletes or compromise the integrity of our sport are not acceptable. Mr. Baffert’s record of testing failures threatens public confidence in thoroughbred racing and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby.”

Brewster said that his early efforts to engage with Churchill Downs in “genuine, open dialogue” were unsuccessful, and that the organization rejected any meeting of the two sides.

“When (Baffert’s suspension) first occurred, it was so shocking. We reached out, ‘Can we share with you what we think are the salient facts that would go toward any reasonable decision?’ There’s been no opportunity to be heard. No opportunity to share information,” said Brewster, who is also a successful horse owner and breeder. “They have to give some semblance of due process. Instead of reviewing what we had with a degree of intellectual honesty and good faith, they calculated a media opportunity to get out in front before the lawsuit was filed.

“It’s having this belief that you’re more powerful, and you have more money and you cannot be taken on. It’s completely a power-based response.”

Baffert, who turned 69 Thursday, at first blamed a “cancel culture” last year after Medina Spirit tested positive, but eventually acknowledged that the horse had been treated with an ointment that contained the banned betamethasone.

Medina Spirit died in December during a workout at Santa Anita track in California, and a necropsy report has not yet been issued.

Brewster said that Baffert did not commit any violation at the Derby last year since ointment is a topical treatment and not an injection.

“The prohibited conduct is injecting a joint within 14 days of the race. That did not happen,” said Brewster. He added that Baffert’s camp took on a “Herculean effort” last year to have a urine sample of Medina Spirit analyzed in an accredited New York lab.

“After the report came from New York, after good faith attempts to reach out (to Churchill Downs) and lay out the facts in a letter, their position was, ‘We’re private. We can do whatever we want on removing people.’ Case law says they have the right to remove undesirables, vagrants and people that create a security risk,” said Brewster. “This is not even close to that situation. The truth is, in 29 years of racing in Kentucky, notwithstanding all the false narrative out there on social media, Bob Baffert has had a single positive. One.”

According to the Times report, Baffert-trained horses “have failed 30 drug tests over four decades, including five in a recent 13-month period.” The 2021 Derby outcome is also still in dispute: it remains to be seen if Medina Spirit’s victory will be stripped from the records and awarded to the second-place finisher, Mandaloun. If that were to happen, Medina Spirit’s owner, Amr Zedan, would forfeit the $1.8 million first-place check and the late colt’s Derby win would be invalidated, something that has happened only one other time in the Derby’s history.

Baffert also has an upcoming hearing scheduled by the New York Racing Association (NYRA) in which an officer — the Honorable O. Peter Sherwood, a retired New York State Supreme Court Justice — will oversee the proceedings. NYRA has charged Baffert with multiple infractions, including “engaging in conduct detrimental to the best interests of Thoroughbred Racing.”

Last May 17, NYRA announced a temporary suspension of Baffert, which included him being barred from entering any of his horses in races at Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course and Aqueduct Racetrack. Baffert responded by filing a federal lawsuit, and Judge Carol Amon of the Eastern District of New York in July granted a preliminary injunction that allowed Baffert to race, train and stable horses at NYRA properties.

The bigger legal battle, and whether Baffert will be granted access to Churchill Downs to compete in thoroughbred racing’s crown jewel event, still awaits. Brewster did not give any indication as to when the lawsuit would be filed, but his client wrote in a text message that he was not only fighting for himself at this stage of his career, but also for other peers.

“I feel that I have to stand up, not just for myself and my owners, but for any trainer they may in the future want to destroy,” said Baffert, referring to Churchill Downs. “Their money and power is not a match for truth and law.”