{"id":260481,"date":"2023-02-17T23:52:37","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T05:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=260481"},"modified":"2023-02-17T23:52:39","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T05:52:39","slug":"bob-baffert-denied-injunction-in-kentucky-derby-federal-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bob-baffert-denied-injunction-in-kentucky-derby-federal-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Baffert Denied Injunction in Kentucky Derby Federal Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal judge in Louisville on Friday denied Bob Baffert\u2019s request for an injunction that would have given the Hall of Fame thoroughbred trainer a chance to enter horses in this year\u2019s Kentucky Derby.<\/p>\n

\"Gene<\/a>
An exterior shot of the Gene Snyder US Courthouse in Downtown Louisville, KY. A federal judge there on Friday denied horse racing trainer Bob Baffert’s request for an injunction that would have allowed him to enter horses in this year’s Kentucky Derby. Baffert is suing Churchill Downs, which issued a two-year suspension against him in June 2021. (Image: Nyttend\/Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

US District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings\u2019 decisions in her 36-page ruling make this year\u2019s Derby a longshot for Baffert. The trainer has won the prestigious race six times, but Churchill Downs barred him from its tracks for two years after his horse Medina Spirit, who finished first in the 2021 Derby, failed a post-race drug test. Stewards eventually disqualified Medina Spirit as the race\u2019s winner.<\/p>\n

That two-year suspension is set to end in June.<\/p>\n

Baffert filed the federal lawsuit against the Louisville-based company nearly a year ago. He was unsuccessful in getting an injunction to enter horses in last year\u2019s Derby. Rules for this year\u2019s race require owners to transfer their nominated horses to eligible trainers by the end of this month in order to earn qualification points in upcoming prep races. That’s why his team made another request for an injunction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A message to Baffert attorney Clark Brewster was not returned on Friday. However, Brewster told Horse Racing Nation<\/em><\/a> the legal team would read Jennings\u2019 ruling carefully before making their next move in the court system.<\/p>\n

Judge Also Agrees to Dismiss Five Counts<\/h2>\n

Baffert\u2019s team tried to argue the suspension from racing at Churchill Downs and other tracks the company owns harmed him, but Jennings noted in her ruling that the trainer is still able to enter horses in races at other tracks. In addition, she added that he would once again be eligible to enter horses in the Derby starting next year.<\/p>\n

In addition to denying Baffert an injunction, Jennings also granted, in part, a motion by Churchill Downs to dismiss the case. She agreed to dismiss five of the six counts Baffert filed in the suit. The only one left standing is one where the trainer claimed Churchill Downs\u2019 action violated his due process, but Jennings said Baffert\u2019s team \u201ccannot demonstrate a likelihood of success\u201d their case would be successful on that count.<\/p>\n

The judge also said that granting Baffert an injunction could affect Churchill Downs and the Derby. The year before Medina Spirit tested positive for an excessive amount of betamethasone in his system, another Baffert horse, Gamine, was disqualified from her third-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks for failing a post-race drug test.<\/p>\n

As explained, Baffert is the only trainer whose horses have tested positive in back-to-back marquee races on CDI tracks,\u201d <\/strong>Jennings wrote. \u201cFailing to punish trainers whose horses test positive in marquee races could harm CDI\u2019s reputation and the integrity of their races.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Regardless of what happens in the Churchill case, Baffert remains eligible to enter horses in the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, the other two legs of horse racing’s Triple Crown.<\/p>\n

What’s Next for Baffert’s Horses?<\/h2>\n

Despite the ban in place against him, Baffert has continued to enter horses in Kentucky Derby<\/a> prep races. However, as long as he\u2019s the listed trainer, those horses cannot receive any points for their performance in those races.<\/p>\n

\n

The list of nominated horses for this year\u2019s Derby, scheduled to run on May 6, shows 29 with the trainer\u2019s name listed as \u201cTBD.\u201d Those horses are all currently trained by Baffert. Among those horses is Arabian Knight. On January 28, that colt won the Southwest Stakes, a Kentucky Derby prep race, by five-and-a-half lengths. Zedan Racing Stables, which owned Medina Spirit, owns Arabian Knight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In order for those horses to run in the Derby, their owners would need to move them out of Baffert’s barn by February 28. They would then be eligible to earn points in Kentucky Derby prep races held in March and April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge in Louisville on Friday denied Bob Baffert\u2019s request for an injunction that would have given the Hall of Fame thoroughbred trainer a chance to enter horses in this year\u2019s Kentucky Derby. US District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings\u2019 decisions in her 36-page ruling make this year\u2019s Derby a longshot for Baffert. The trainer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":260482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14577,60],"tags":[84771,82008,82078],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBob Baffert Denied Injunction in Federal Kentucky Derby Lawsuit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bob Baffert sought the federal court's help so he could enter horses in the May 6 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bob-baffert-denied-injunction-in-kentucky-derby-federal-lawsuit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bob Baffert Denied Injunction in Federal Kentucky Derby Lawsuit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bob Baffert sought the federal court's help so he could enter horses in the May 6 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bob-baffert-denied-injunction-in-kentucky-derby-federal-lawsuit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-18T05:52:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-18T05:52:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/1280px-Gene_Snyder_US_Courthouse.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bob-baffert-denied-injunction-in-kentucky-derby-federal-lawsuit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bob-baffert-denied-injunction-in-kentucky-derby-federal-lawsuit\/\",\"name\":\"Bob Baffert Denied Injunction in Federal Kentucky Derby Lawsuit\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bob-baffert-denied-injunction-in-kentucky-derby-federal-lawsuit\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bob-baffert-denied-injunction-in-kentucky-derby-federal-lawsuit\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/1280px-Gene_Snyder_US_Courthouse.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-18T05:52:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-18T05:52:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"Bob Baffert sought the federal court's help so he could enter horses in the May 6 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bob-baffert-denied-injunction-in-kentucky-derby-federal-lawsuit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bob-baffert-denied-injunction-in-kentucky-derby-federal-lawsuit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bob-baffert-denied-injunction-in-kentucky-derby-federal-lawsuit\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/1280px-Gene_Snyder_US_Courthouse.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/1280px-Gene_Snyder_US_Courthouse.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"An exterior shot of the Gene Snyder US Courthouse in Louisville, KY. 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