Week rated by TD Thornton
Oaklawn Park has tweaked the series of races in preparation for this year’s GI Kentucky Derby by postponing the dates of its top stakes games, the GI Arkansas Derby, so it’ll run five weeks from day Tuesday The first seven of May instead of the traditional three weeks. That has changed the overall face of the race prep picture so that the final three nine-round bets awarding the coveted 100 Derby qualifying points to the winner will take place on April 9.
This means for the first time there will be a gap of four weeks between the last all-important prep races and the May 7 Derby.
GIII Lexington S. April 16 in Keeneland will technically be the last Derby qualifying race. But with just 20 points to the winner, that 1/16 mile bet has historically attracted some A-rank sophomores.
Looking further ahead, it’s hard to believe we’re only 40 years away from when Churchill Downs played the Derby Trial S. on the Tuesday (four days!) before the Derby, and it was supposed to be a prep race. legal.
While the new four-week minimum gap is consistent with the current less-than-current approach to racing top-level candidates, almost a whole month without any significant (to the public) events before On the eve of America’s most important tournament horse racing could prove problematic.
In theory, that gap should be filled with better pictures of Thoroughbreds being bathed, and trainers should be increasingly challenged to think of new creative ways to say “I’m just trying to trying to keep this pony happy and healthy” when asked repeatedly about the minutiae of their training methods.
But in all likelihood, there won’t be any gaps in the news cycle. That’s because this spring, it can be safely bet that any expected gaps will be filled by litigation headlines regarding whether Bob Baffert’s cadets will actually be kicked out of the game. Derby or not.
Back in June, Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), has banned the seven-time Derby-winning coach from its track portfolio after the now deceased Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone residue while winning the 2021 Derby.
Citing private ownership and Baffert’s “repeated failures” related to drug violations in horses (four other Baffert interns also tested positive for the median drug in the previous year). when banned, two of them in class I stakes), the CDI said the Hall of Famer would not ‘be ineligible to race in the 2022 or ’23 Cycling Series; His trainees are also not allowed to accumulate qualifying points.
The purpose of this column is not to argue about whether Baffert’s ban should be lifted. Instead, the aim is to inform a slew of non-equine court news that is likely to overshadow most pre-Derby talk about the equestrians themselves.
Baffert is currently training ‘TDN Rising Star’ Corniche (Quality Sugar), the 2-year-old hypothetical champion, plus his usual stacked stable consisting of a handful of other ‘Rising Star’ sophomores and graded bet winning horses. If those horses are allowed to collect Derby points for their wins and positions so far, Baffert will be in his customary top domination on the qualifying totem pole.
There appear to be three routes for Baffert-trained horses to be allowed to run in the Derby: 1) the corresponding CDI; 2) Owners of Derby participants who are now conditioned by Baffert to start sending those horses to other trainers, and 3) Matters ending up in court, in the form of lawsuits in That getting a temporary restraining order (TRO) to allow participation in the Derby is more important than winning the case overall.
CDI shutdown is the least likely outcome. Why it? Its position appears to be legally protected from a private property perspective, and the ban was only implemented after classes of game company attorneys had crafted, edited, and signed it. it.
The second pick – essentially a high-stakes game of chicken – is a more likely outcome, but it’s also not carved into the rock. As the reality of a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own a Derby winner becomes more prominent and eligibility points become more and more mandatory, it remains to be seen how many Baffert customers refuse the excuse. Their comments ranged from “we are loyal to Bob” to “the circumstances that forced us to do. ”
Litigation pervades every aspect of our society and our sport is no different, so having Baffert’s expulsion dealt with in front of a judge seems the inevitable outcome.
In a separate case just last week, a federal court dismissed an antitrust and anticompetitive lawsuit filed by eight Standardbred owners, who face the exclusion of private property from races in New Jersey and New York. York because of their relationship with a banned coach. But even if that case was overturned, the judge dismissed it “without prejudice,” signaling that those plaintiffs could bring a follow-up lawsuit with the charges re-submitted or brought in. the matter to another court.
So in the same vein, just because the CDI appears to have a strong case, that doesn’t preclude anyone who perceives they are being harmed by that ruling from challenging it. The courts in our country are often reluctant to stand by and do nothing when “my livelihood is taken from me” is introduced and when corporate organizations try to assert broad control over individuals individuals, judges are often receptive to at least hearings. out the so-called little guy.
Given that framework, you can see why Baffert has yet to object to CDI eviction in court. Why try to sue relatively early when it would be in Baffert’s interest to wait until we are right at the cusp of the Derby, when he can claim that the alleged harm from the ban is imminent. out most? Again, he didn’t even have to argue hard enough to win the whole case – just good enough to convince some judge somewhere to grant a TRO that stalled the CDI exclusion while the parties brought it up. final judgment.
Conceivably, a TRO application might even include asking the judge to order the CDI to tally back the number of qualifying points that were not awarded as if Baffert’s horses had earned it all. The argument can be made that such an order would not cost the CDI money – they are, after all, just qualifying points. There is no hard and fast legal rule about what a petitioner can and cannot claim in a TRO.
Then again, that corner can open up another Pandora’s Box. What if Baffert with three ponies was suddenly found to be eligible to run in a Derby based on a point recalculation, but other owners whose horses were pushed out of the starting gate would sue separately because they were stripped of their entry to Derby by the same order? The wait during that four-week period in April and May will be tough enough for the Derby to connect without the constant heated debate about which horse “deserves” to start. legal.
Currently, most discussions on the subject tend to focus on whether Baffert will take the matter to court. But he may not have to. If individual owners of Derby-worthy ponies claim the TROs on their own rather than having their trainers do so, it opens the door for them to try a persuasive line-by-line.” Hey, we’re just mortgage victims entangled in a legitimate Baffert vs CDI showdown, and we’re being robbed of our one and only chance to run the Derby against their other qualifying horse. I. ” That might be a more persuasive tactic than forcing a judge to side with Baffert or the CDI.
The wild card looming over this entire scenario concerns the inaction so far by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) in issuing any kind of ruling regarding the event that triggered the ban of the Kentucky Horse Racing. CDI.
Medina Spirit’s betamethasone positivity has long been confirmed by two KHRC accredited laboratories and we are now almost 250 days from race day when the alleged violation occurred. No hearings took place (at least none were publicly disclosed), and over a period of months, KHRC experimented, held hearings, and ruled on the Other drug-positive cases later occurred at meetings of other races in the state.
Remember 2019, when Maximum security Disqualified from winning the Derby for interfering in the race? At that time, KHRC representatives repeatedly emphasized how they organize the Derby like any other race. Apparently, based on how long the process has stalled and stretched, that’s not what’s happening with the drug positive in Medina Spirit’s limbo.
It is not out of the question that the 2021 Derby will not be fully adjudicated before the 2022 Derby takes place. And the lack of a KHRC ruling could result in Baffert or any ownership entity deciding to challenge CDI’s Derby exclusion in court.
