More Baffert

[johnnym]

https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/nyra-amends-charges-against-baffert-to-include-bute-overages/#.YdOA7fGyY0o.twitter

[Socalman3]

I have had a case before Peter Sherwood who is the presiding officer on this case.  Sherwood is an interesting guy. Based on the experience of a single case, he asks a ton of contextual questions trying to understand the bigger picture and that is way more important to him than nuts and bolts small details.  He tends to throw out both sides\' arguments and come up with his own solution.  It is very important for litigants to embrace his approach and avoid small close-minded types of arguments. Not sure if the administrative context requires an alteration of his common law judicial approach.

[confused]

I wish I could say something funny about this.  Bute overages?  Bute with legs of its own?  This ain\'t lidocaine, baby.

[rezlegal]

So Cal- he was a good Judge and former Corporation counsel of NYC. But he will not employ as an approach  what you suggest for various reasons. First, this is a really high profile case that has the potential to land him- as it does many retired judges- a boat load of future mediation work. Second, and perhaps more importantly, there is likely to be an appeal- whether it is to District Judge Carol Amon ( also a really good judge) or somewhere else, he knows he has to be a judge here, folllow the facts and law and  not be merely  a baby splitter.

[TGJB]

Curious what the lawyers think— my sense is NYRA realizes it jumped the gun, and is now throwing s—t against the wall (An old Bute overage? Seriously?) in an attempt to cover their butts for not giving him due process.

[Fairmount1]

Mislabeled drugs?  25 of them?  

Where else have I heard about mislabeled drugs???  Oh yes, our good friends Fishman and Jorge taught us all about this.  

Gamine was sent off to rehab today. Hope she lives longer than Lord Nelson, Arrogate, etc.  She\'s made it further than Medina Spirit so that\'s a victory in the barn\'s eyes I\'m sure.

[BitPlayer]

I am curious about another legal issue relating to Baffert.  I recently read an article speculating that Baffert\'s legal team would wait until shortly before the Derby to challenge Churchill\'s disqualification of Baffert-trained horses from participating in the Derby or earning points in Derby preps.  The idea was that they would find a judge to give them a TRO and then run out the clock until after the Derby had been run.

I had some legal training long ago and wonder if laches wouldn\'t stand in the way of getting a TRO.

That said, I\'m not sure that there is a better strategy available to them.  As the article sugested, Churchill Downs is arguably not subject to the due process requirements that apply to NYRA.

[Fairmount1]

Unclean Hands.

[TGJB]

As Arthur points out in the article the labeling of the drugs is the vet's responsibility, and what the drugs were matters. I'm going to assume (perhaps incorrectly) that if there was a true performance enhancer in there we would have heard about it.

Again— I'm not saying Baffert is Snow White. But what we're talking about here is kids stuff. The Clenbuterol positives for multiple trainers in Florida who run horses in lots of races we bet is a much bigger deal. Does anybody seriously think they are the only ones? Has anyone been looking at the sheets for horses trained by a certain guy at Parx recently? Has anyone noticed how certain trainers in NY and SoCal are running hot and cold?

[Socalman3]

Off the top of my head, the judge should say to Baffert\'s lawyer where were you when your horses weren\'t accruing points? Wasnt that the urgent emergency? If the issue was getting Newgrange into the Derby, you already knew of the harm as of January 1 when Newgrange was denied points.

Of course, Kentucky is the world of bizarro when it comes to law (see TGJB\'s Rachel Alexandra case which was a grave miscarriage of justice), so who knows how the court would rule. it is possible that Baffert will have more sway than Churchill Downs does. Also, it will be interesting to see how the competing interests of various owners will be handled (Baffert owners vs Non-Baffert owners).

I think the interesting issue will be what if we transfers the care of the relevant horses to other trainers just before the last round of Derby Preps?

[hellersorr]

BitPlayer Wrote:
 
> I had some legal training long ago and wonder if
> laches wouldn\'t stand in the way of getting a
> TRO.

Hey, I just learned a new word.  Thanks!

[rezlegal]

Bit- it is sort of laches! As a general rules the party asserting the doctrine of laches-here Churchill Downs- would have to claim it was prejudiced or changed its position by Baffert sitting on his rights. That is not the case here where CD has taken its position.  I can't speak for Kentucky courts specifically but most judges do not look fondly on a party seeking a TRO at the last minute when the relief could have been sought earlier on a non emergency basis.R

[Fairmount1]

I know you think Rick was really on top of his game.  But as you point out, the information that has been released was controlled by him.    

If you go back and read every single detail of all the Baffert excuses, incidents, mishaps, groom\'s pee, etc, Rick has been covering up for Baffert for years.  Even if there was some serious blood doping agents, you would never know b/c Rick was in Bob\'s corner of the ring the whole time no matter what he said.  His actions showed he had his back no matter how he had to later Justify it.  

As it is, why are we just learning of this now?  Transparency one of the game\'s biggest problems.  And the so-called leaders continue to show themselves covering up for people they shouldn\'t be covering up for year after year.  

Snow White.  That\'s rich.

I\'ve always found it ironic a guy who nearly died but survived a heart attack has numerous horses that he cares for fall over dead from heart attacks including a Derby winner.  No one else has a history of heart attacks in their trainees the way the greatest trainer ever has. . . hmmm, I wonder why?  It isn\'t because of Mickey Mouse drugs and Snow White character.

[TGJB]

Baffert tried hard to get Arthur fired. And Arthur asked me for sheets for trainers getting jump ups, he means business.

I would point out they've been giving Baffert a colonoscopy since the Derby and his horses have run okay.

[Fairmount1]

If he knows they can\'t test for something, he is firing away with guns a blazing while he can.  As Fishman taught us, there are things in the US including TJC can\'t test for apparently.  If they do pop a positive, it is dex or beta we\'ve also learned.  

They\'ve ran better than ok.  I know win percentages aren\'t as big as performance figs to you, but his record right now is en fuego.