Baffert Seeks Speedy Hearing in Case Against Churchill

Trainer Bob Baffert's legal team is seeking a hearing and an expedited briefing schedule on a motion for a preliminary injunction filed against Churchill Downs, Bill Carstanjen, and Alex Rankin in federal court. It's the latest legal maneuver by Baffert to participate in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) on May 7.

The case against Churchill Downs is separate from litigation filed by Baffert in Franklin Circuit Court, where Baffert has asked for a stay from a stewards' order handing him a 90-day suspension after Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone following the 2021 Kentucky Derby. A hearing in that case took place before Judge Thomas Wingate in Frankfort, Ky., on March 17. Wingate said he would issue a ruling no later than March 21.

On the same day Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, which encompasses Louisville, signed an order granting Churchill Downs and the other defendants five days to respond to Baffert's motion, filed the previous day, for a quick hearing and briefing schedule.

The federal court case involves a two-year ban against Baffert's racing operation at tracks owned by Churchill Downs Inc. declared soon after Baffert gave conflicting explanations for the betamethasone positive to national media. Baffert has since said, during a week-long hearing in which the New York Racing Association is seeking to ban him from their tracks, that he regrets making those statements. Findings and recommendations to NYRA by the hearing officer in that case, which concluded on Jan. 28, are pending.

If things turn out well for Baffert in Franklin Circuit Court, and if the Kentucky Court of Appeals does not intervene, the Kentucky suspension will be stayed. He needs that outcome in order to avoid reciprocity of his suspension in Maryland and New York, which would prevent him from competing in the Preakness (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1).

However, the door to the Kentucky Derby will remain closed to Baffert unless he manages to get a preliminary injunction against Churchill Downs in federal court.

But first he must be granted a hearing by Jennings. Her order entered Thursday states only that Churchill Downs, Carstanjen, and Rankin have five days to respond to Baffert's motion for a hearing and expedited briefing of the matter. If Jennings grants a hearing, Baffert's filing suggests the soonest all counsel could participate is April 13 or 14, just over three weeks before the first Saturday in May.

By then, all the major prep races for the Kentucky Derby will have been run. Under current point system rules, which were promulgated by Churchill Downs and not the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, no horse trained by a person barred from Churchill-owned tracks may earn points in Derby prep races either in real time or retroactively.

This is not the first time Jennings has been asked to grant an expedited hearing for a preliminary injunction by Baffert's legal team. The first request was made on March 1, the day after his complaint was filed. Jennings denied the request two days later, noting that Baffert's team made no showing that any effort had been made to serve the defendants with notice of the lawsuit, and that while they wanted to give Churchill Downs, et al, six days to file responsive briefs, no notice of the motion had been given to defendants other than to send mail to out of state counsel in New York.

Up to now, Baffert's efforts at the state level have been frustrated as well. A quest for a stay from the stewards' suspension was rebuffed twice, first by KHRC executive director Marc Guilfoil in February and again by KHRC itself in a 10-0 vote on March 4.

Should Jennings grant a hearing, court documents say Baffert wants an order that enjoins Churchill Downs from: barring Baffert and horses he trains from stall space and racing at tracks owned by Churchill Downs; barring entrance to the grounds; and prohibiting horses trained "directly or indirectly" by Baffert from being denied Kentucky Derby points.

At this point, the time for Churchill Downs to file motions to dismiss and/or answer the complaint has not expired. In the past two weeks, most of the docket entries in the case involve service of documents on defendants, entries of appearance by attorneys, and orders allowing attorneys who don't typically practice in Kentucky to participate in the case.

Baffert's attorneys in the federal case are Clarke Brewster, co-counsel with Craig Robertson in Franklin Circuit Court and the administrative hearing in New York, and Lexington attorney Michael Meuser. Lexington attorney Robertson, who represents Baffert on the cases in Franklin Circuit Court and New York, has not entered an appearance in the case against Churchill Downs.