The New York Racing Association announced Sept. 10 that it had scheduled hearings and issued statements of charges to trainers Bob Baffert and Marcus Vitali.
NYRA contends that Baffert and Vitali have engaged in conduct that is detrimental to the best interests of the sport of Thoroughbred racing or potentially injurious to the health or safety of horses or riders. NYRA believes this conduct warrants revocation or suspension of their right to train horses, enter races, or engage in any racing-related activity at all NYRA properties, including Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course.
NYRA has established hearing rules and procedures that provide a formalized mechanism for a respondent to reply to charges and to participate in a hearing in accordance with due process rights. The Baffert hearing is scheduled Sept. 27. The hearing for Vitali is set Sept. 30.
VIEW: Hearing Rules & Procedures from NYRA
"NYRA has a responsibility to protect the integrity of the sport of Thoroughbred racing," said NYRA president and CEO Dave O'Rourke. "We are determined to ensure the actions taken in furtherance of that goal comport with the requirements of due process, which is what the hearing rules and procedures established by NYRA provide."
According to a NYRA release, "a designated hearing officer will ensure the proceedings are fairly and impartially conducted in accordance with NYRA's hearing rules and procedures. Following the proceeding, the hearing officers will issue a report containing findings of fact, conclusions, and a recommended disposition."
O. Peter Sherwood, a retired New York State Supreme Court Justice, will serve as hearing officer in the Baffert matter. Robert Smith, a retired Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, will serve as hearing officer in the Vitali hearing.
NYRA had previously issued Baffert with a temporary suspension May 17 after his Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner Medina Spirit, owned by Zedan Racing Sables, tested positive for betamethasone. Also this spring, Churchill Downs barred Baffert from the tracks it owns through the middle of 2023.
According to one of Baffert's attorneys, Craig Robertson, betamethasone was in Medina Spirit's blood because of a topical ointment applied to a skin issue on the Zedan Racing Stables-owned colt. In Kentucky, the drug is permitted for therapeutic use but is not allowed at any level in a horse's system on race day. It typically is administered to horses as an injection with a 14-day withdrawal time.
No disqualification of Medina Spirit or ruling against Baffert has yet been issued by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Follow-up testing continues and no formal hearing before the Kentucky stewards has been scheduled.
After legal action by Baffert this summer, the NYRA suspension was blocked in a July 14 ruling from United States District Court Judge Carol Bagley Amon in which she granted the trainer a preliminary injunction.
In her order, Amon concluded that "due process required that Baffert, having an undisputed property interest in his licensed right to race horses in New York, was entitled to a pre-suspension hearing," which NYRA did not afford him.
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Baffert has since filed a motion seeking recovery from NYRA of more than $162,000 in attorney fees in that case.
"New York's action, initially, was to do the same thing Churchill did," said Clark Brewster, another attorney that represents Baffert and Zedan Racing Stables. "But the federal judge said, 'No, that doesn't conform with constitutional fair play and due process; you're not going to do that.'"
Regarding the latest developments with NYRA, Brewster indicated a return to court is a possibility.
"My attitude is, and Craig's is too, is let's look at the facts, the law, and try to reason, but if you can't and you have unreasonable people, then we have to have other people make decisions for them, maybe a judge," Brewster said.
The new hearing rules and procedures are intended to provide due process, NYRA said.
Following removal of the NYRA ban, the California-based Baffert shipped six horses to race at Saratoga this summer, winning the Ketel One Ballerina Handicap (G1) with Gamine, last year's champion female sprinter for owner Michael Lund Petersen.
In its notices of hearings to both Baffert and Vitali, NYRA cited conduct detrimental to the best interests of racing and to NYRA operations. Baffert was also accused by NYRA of conduct detrimental to the health and safety of horses and jockeys.
"Certain prohibited or otherwise regulated substances, such as betamethasone, have the potential to mask injuries when used in Thoroughbred racing when they exceed the threshold levels legally permitted for a horse at race time," NYRA's statement of charges noted. "A substance's ability to mask injuries allows a horse to compete in a race when it otherwise should not, which increases the risk of catastrophic injury to horses and jockeys."
Robertson could not be reached for comment Friday but said in a statement issued after the Amon ruling that there had been an "improper rush to judgment" regarding the Hall of Fame trainer and that Baffert had been treated unfairly.
Vitali has a long history of violations and suspensions and did not have a starter from July 21, 2019, until Jan. 4 of this year. During his career, he was suspended for 365 days in 2019 by the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission for impeding an investigation. In 2016, he gave up his trainer's license in Florida while facing penalties for seven medication violations, though he later accepted a 120-day suspension.
This summer, about a week after Amon questioned the due process afforded Baffert by NYRA, Vitali ran Red Venus is a $50,000 claiming race at Saratoga July 22. Red Venus finished sixth.
Vitali has run horses mostly at Finger Lakes and Presque Isle Downs this summer. Though Finger Lakes is in New York, it is not operated by NYRA. CDI owns Presque Isle Downs.
