Baffert banned

Trainer Bob Baffert now wants the federal judge handling his year-old lawsuit against Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), to recuse herself. The stated reason is that legislative lobbying efforts conducted by the judge's husband for two racing industry clients allegedly create a conflict of interest for Judge Rebecca Jennings in adjudicating Baffert's case. Baffert is attempting to reverse the second year of a two-year ban by CDI that prohibits his trainees from accruing qualifying points and competing in the 2023 GI Kentucky Derby. CDI first imposed that punishment in June 2021...

Responding to a legal filing in which Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), alleged that a court-mandated lifting of Bob Baffert's ban from competing in the GI Kentucky Derby would harm the connections of other qualifying points earners who would "lose their fairly-earned berths in the Derby to make room for Baffert," the Hall-of-Fame trainer's legal team fired back with a written response on Friday claiming that CDI "appears to misunderstand its own rules," regarding the qualifying system. "CDI argues that an injunction would force it to 'reallocate' points and 'deprive' owners...

After having failed back in October to get a federal judge to block the New York Racing Association (NYRA) from moving forward with a Jan. 24 hearing that could once again bar him from NYRA tracks, trainer Bob Baffert asked the hearing officer who will preside over the case to either recuse himself and/or dismiss the proceeding entirely because NYRA "self-created" the hearing process when it didn't have the authority to do so. On Wednesday, hearing officer O. Peter Sherwood said no to both motions. So starting Monday, at what...