Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert proceeded Sept. 22 with legal measures to thwart efforts by the New York Racing Association to suspend him and pursued contempt charges against the racing organization.
The motion to hold NYRA in civil contempt, which was filed with the U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York, accuses the organization of failing to comply with a July 14 court order that stopped it from enforcing what the motion calls an "unlawful suspension."
NYRA announced Sept. 10 it had adopted new hearing rules and procedures and scheduled a hearing for Baffert Sept. 27 and one for trainer Marcus Vitali Sept. 30 to address "conduct it believes warrants revocation or suspension of their right to train and race horses at NYRA tracks."
Baffert's attorney, W. Craig Robertson III, has argued in court documents the action taken Sept. 10 is a replay of a suspension NYRA issued the trainer in May. NYRA notified Baffert in a May 17 letter he had been temporarily suspended from racing at its three tracks—Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course—due to the suspension he received from Churchill Downs related to the post-race positive test for the corticosteroid betamethasone for Medina Spirit, who won this year's Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). The suspension also was based on four drug violations Baffert had during the previous year and "other related information."
This suspension is what U.S. District Court Judge Carol Bagley Amon blocked with her July 14 order.
"NYRA's actions plainly circumvent the letter and spirit of the court's order enjoining it from any further action pertaining to its May 17, 2021, suspension of Baffert until after the case concludes," stated a memorandum supporting the motion for contempt. The motion asks Judge Amon to admonish NYRA for not complying with her July 14 order, and to additionally require NYRA to pay $5,000 for each day it does not comply with the court's directives and to reimburse Baffert for reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs associated with the contempt motion.
NYRA has disputed Robertson's claim that it is reviving the May suspension.
"Contrary to your assertion, NYRA is not seeking to 'enforce' the May 17, 2021, letter temporarily suspending him," stated NYRA deputy general counsel Melanie Sims Frank in a Sept. 13 letter. "Mr. Baffert is free to enter and stable horses at Belmont Park, Aqueduct Racetrack, and Saratoga Race Course, just as he has been for the past two months. That status will remain in effect, pending the final outcome of the instant proceeding, in accordance with NYRA's hearing rules and procedures.
"NYRA's May 17, 2021, letter is no longer in effect and NYRA does not now or in the future intend to enforce or otherwise invoke that letter as the basis for any action taken against Mr. Baffert," Frank continued. "The instant proceeding, by which NYRA seeks to bar Mr. Baffert from entering and stabling horses at the racetracks, was independently commenced pursuant to NYRA's common law and regulatory authority to exclude licensees, subject to the strictures of constitutional due process, and in full compliance with the U.S. District Court's order and memorandum, dated July 14, 2021, in Bob Baffert v. The New York Racing Association Inc."
