Attorneys Outline Their Cases in Baffert's NYRA Hearing

A New York Racing Association disciplinary hearing for trainer Bob Baffert began Jan. 24 with verbal jousting by attorneys for both sides in front of hearing officer and retired New York State Supreme Court Justice O. Peter Sherwood.

The hearing, expected to last most, if not all of the week, started with Baffert in attendance. Opening statements by the opposing attorneys painted completely opposite pictures of the Hall of Fame trainer. The more than seven-hour session, which included a one-hour lunch break, featured testimony of just one NYRA witness, Rick Goodell, a former assistant counsel for the New York State Gaming Commission and former chair of the Association of Racing Commissioners International's Regulatory Attorneys Committee.

NYRA attorney Henry Greenberg, in calling the hearing "profoundly important" for the sport's equine athletes, jockeys, and fans, urged Sherwood to issue a lengthy suspension of Baffert. He listed the damage to the sport's integrity through seven drug violations by Baffert-trained horses since July 2019. Greenberg played on Baffert's Triple Crown success on the track, saying the only Triple Crown Baffert was responsible for during that period was destroying "three great stakes" in the Arkansas Derby (G1), Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), and Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) (a trio of 2020 and 2021 races in which Baffert horses failed post-race drug tests and Baffert was sanctioned.)

"We will show that one man, Bob Baffert, took a wrecking ball to the integrity of the sport," Greenberg said about Baffert's violations and his refusal to accept blame. "His rampage of violations over a 14-month period is something that nowhere else in the history of modern racing can you find anything like it by a prominent trainer."

Baffert attorney W. Craig Robertson III, in his opening statement, pointed out how NYRA inducted Baffert into its Walk of Fame at Saratoga Race Course in 2018. He also hammered the point that Baffert was not suspended for any of the drug violations since July 2019, that he has never been charged with a violation in 30 years of racing in New York, and has already been suspended by NYRA for 58 days. Robertson suggested that NYRA's desire to suspend Baffert was fueled by the envy of NYRA board members waging a vendetta against the trainer because their horses could not outrun his.

"The bias, the vindictiveness NYRA has, has no bounds. Mr. Baffert has spent his entire life devoted to horse racing. For 46 years he has been a tremendous ambassador of horse racing," Robertson said. "Now, three years after they put him in their Hall of Fame, NYRA wants to unceremoniously throw him out on his ear, all because of a few powerful board members have a personal vendetta and want to eliminate a competitor." 

Greenberg spoke while a timeline was displayed showing the seven times a Baffert horse was cited for a drug violation in the past few  years, beginning with Cruel Intention  (phenylbutazone, July 27, 2019) and ending with Medina Spirit (betamethasone, May 1) in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Also included was Éclair (phenylbutazone, Aug. 3, 2019), Gamine  (hydroxylidocaine, May 2, 2020), Charlatan   (hydroxylidocaine, May 2, 2020) in the Arkansas Derby, Mereneith (dextrorphan, July 25, 2020), and Gamine (betamethasone, Sept. 4) in the 2020 Kentucky Oaks.

Greenberg also brought up how Baffert said in 2020 he would work with a veterinarian to eliminate any future violations but never followed through in hiring a person for that role, and how the trainer insisted a week after the Kentucky Derby that Medina Spirit was never treated with betamethasone, only to announce a few days later that he applied the topical cream Otomax, which contains betamethasone, to a rash on Medina Spirit in the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

"NYRA had an obligation to protect the sport of horse racing and its integrity," Greenberg said of its decision to suspend Baffert. "What happens if those institutions do not use their very best effort, everything in their power, to protect the safety of the animals in this case? What happens is what happened to greyhound racing, which we no longer see. What happens is what happened to the circuses where there were lion tamers and they no longer exist. So NYRA, and institutions like it, must do everything in their power to protect the safety of horses and in doing so they protect jockeys. NYRA has that obligation to protect these athletes and make sure these drugs are not in a horse's blood on race day, to make sure people are safe and secure. NYRA had an obligation to protect fans, the betting public."

Greenberg also detailed evidence that included a 2019 California Horse Racing Board investigation of Baffert's barn at Del Mar that found 25 mislabeled prescriptions in an unlocked cabinet.

"His barn was a ramshackle mess," Greenberg said.

Robertson defended Baffert, saying the two-time Triple Crown winner is "one of the most accomplished and respected individuals in all of racing, not just now, but of all time.

"The facts are going to be what is put into evidence, not what Mr. Greenberg just said, because the facts are going to be very, very different," Robertson said. 

Robertson said Baffert's New York training license was renewed without a problem in Dec. 2020 and in the May 2020 violations at Oaklawn Park involving Gamine and Charlatan, regulators rescinded the disqualification of both horses and a suspension of Baffert, leveling only a fine on the trainer.

"The most (Greenberg) will be able to establish is that there were minor overages of lawful, allowable therapeutic medications used in horse racing every day," Robertson said. "Now NYRA wants to step outside of the regulatory framework and re-litigate matters that were considered in California, Arkansas, and Kentucky, even though they did not occur in New York. And even though those bodies said there should be no suspensions, they want to cast all of that aside and impose their own suspension.

"It is feigned outrage (by NYRA)," he continued. "It is designed to obscure their true motive. They are trying to ruin this man's Hall of Fame career due to a few board members' personal vendettas."

Goodell's testimony provided details about each of the drug violations and also included video clips of Baffert's denial of the use of betamethasone on Medina Spirit in a May 9 meeting with the media as well as interviews on "The Dan Patrick Show," ESPN, and Fox News.

He said if Baffert's drug violations occurred in New York, Baffert would have been hit with a series of suspensions that could have totaled 240 days. During Baffert attorney Clark Brewster's cross examination of Goodell, the attorney questioned that total, pointing out that New York's threshold for phenylbutazone in 2019 was lower than California's and it would not have been a violation in the Empire State. Goodell did not argue that point.

Brewster also used a line of questioning centering on how the medications in the violations were allowed in the racing environment and often used in treating horses. He contended the overages were slight and that the presence of the drugs in horses' systems, in and of itself, was not a violation. Goodell countered that there are withdrawal guidelines for the drugs to avoid failed post-race tests.

Brewster also raised an issue with members of the NYRA Board owning horses that race against Baffert's runners. He said that board member Ogden Phipps II and the Phipps family owns a share of Dynamic One , who was beaten by Medina Spirit in the Kentucky Derby. He added that board member Stuart Janney III also raced a horse on that Churchill Downs card (Scarlet Sky) that finished behind a victorious Baffert horse (Du Jour  in the American Turf Stakes Presented by River City Gaming [G2T]), and listed other board members including Andrew Rosen, chairman Marc Holliday, and Michael Dubb as owners who have raced against Baffert.

Goodell responded he had no knowledge of any NYRA board members and could not answer the question.

Brewster also questioned Goodell about other trainers in New York with numerous drug violations but did not receive a precise answer.

Goodell's testimony will continue Jan. 25 in the Manhattan office setting for the hearing.

During Monday's hearing, Baffert's attorneys hinted that the trainer will testify in his own defense and be subjected to cross-examination at some point in the proceedings.

The hearing was a result of NYRA's May 17, 2021 decision to temporarily suspend Baffert following news of Medina Spirit's failure of a post-race drug test. Baffert was victorious in federal court, securing a July 14 restraining order due to a lack of due process that ended the ban.

In response, NYRA created a new set of disciplinary protocols and regulations, leading to Monday's hearing that could eventually reinstate the suspension.