CA Stewards Again Decline Action in Justify Case

In response to a court order, California stewards issued another decision in the Justify  disqualification case claiming they have no authority to intervene despite being directed to act by the California Horse Racing Board.

The decision hinges on what some might say is a technical reading of the case record that is now before a Los Angeles Superior Court. The stewards' decision claims that although CHRB pressed the charges for disqualification that put the case in their hands, that same body never formally reversed itself after dismissing charges against Justify in August 2018 during an executive session that was not made public at the time.

The legal dispute, now more than five years in the making and seemingly with no end in sight, stems from scopolamine positives found in Justify and Hoppertunity  , both trained by Bob Baffert, after the former won the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and the latter prevailed in the Tokyo City Cup Stakes (G3) in April 2018. Four months later the CHRB unanimously decided in closed session to take no action, citing environmental contamination via jimson weed that affected multiple stables at Santa Anita.

When Mick Ruis discovered the dismissal, he sued in 2020 to compel a disqualification by CHRB under what is called rule 1859.5, which would move up Bolt d'Oro  , owned and trained by Ruis, from second to first in the Santa Anita Derby.

The case was settled, or at least it appeared to be settled, when CHRB agreed to press charges against Justify's drug positive, which it did. With the case finally before them, stewards held a hearing in October 2020 and issued a ruling two months later acknowledging disqualification was mandatory under rule 1859.5—but holding that they had no authority to act because the matter had been dismissed by CHRB in 2018.

That ruling prompted a return of the litigation to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff, who wrote in late May that the reasoning behind the stewards' ruling was so unclear it could not be judicially reviewed. "There can be no question the facts found by the Stewards required Justify to be disqualified under Rule 1859.5," Beckloff added.

The stewards' latest inaction follows Beckloff's order giving stewards a chance to make a clearer ruling by remanding, or returning, the case back into their hands.

Again washing their hands of the matter, the stewards' latest ruling says they lack authority to go forward because "No evidence of any Board action has been provided to the Stewards—by any party—to establish that the Board’s dismissal (in August 2018) has been set aside. The Stewards therefore find that the CHRB’s August 2018 dismissal completely and finally disposes of the matter and that they lack any authority to set aside the dismissal and adjudicate the Disqualification Matters."

Beckloff was provided the full 15-page text of the stewards' decision August 4. The next step in the case will be a hearing before the judge on Sept. 8. Whether further arguments will be filed of record is not clear at the posting of this story.