Craig Robertson

NYRA Slams Baffert's 'Premature' Claim for 'Disproportionately High' Legal Fees

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) fired back in court Monday against Bob Baffert's attempt to collect $162,086 in legal fees and expenses from NYRA that have resulted from the Hall of Fame trainer's lawsuit against NYRA. Calling his request "premature" while claiming that the $450 to $975 hourly fees charged by his lawyers are "disproportionately high," NYRA also alleged that Baffert is attempting to twist a legal provision "intended to incentivize attorneys to represent individual civil rights plaintiffs that might otherwise be unrepresented" to his own financial benefit when...

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Baffert-NYRA Arguments Scheduled for Oct. 5

Arguments on the motion by Bob Baffert's attorneys to hold the New York Racing Association in contempt of court for organizing hearings to suspend him will be heard in the United States District Court Oct. 5, according to a document filed by Judge Carol Bagley Amon. On July 14, Bagley Amon granted Baffert a preliminary injunction against NYRA that will allow him to race at New York's three major tracks, after they suspended him in May, pending the resolution of the case. "Defendant NYRA is directed to respond by 9/29/21,"...

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Baffert Alleges NYRA Violating Court Order in 'Sham Hearing' Attempt

Trainer Bob Baffert filed a motion Wednesday asking a federal judge to hold the New York Racing Association (NYRA) in civil contempt for trying to schedule a hearing under its newly created exclusionary procedures that could once again bar him from participating at NYRA's tracks. The basis for the contempt allegation is NYRA's "failure to comply with the terms of the Court's July 14, 2021, Memorandum & Order enjoining it from enforcing its unlawful suspension of Baffert from New York racetracks." According to a Sept. 22 filing by Baffert's legal...

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Baffert Legal Team May File Contempt Motion Against NYRA

A lawyer representing trainer Bob Baffert has notified the judge handling Baffert's legal dispute with the New York Racing Association that he intends to file a motion to hold NYRA in contempt and will also seek a stay that would prevent NYRA from taking any immediate action that could lead to Baffert being suspended. Those intentions were part of a letter sent Tuesday by Baffert attorney Craig Robertson to Judge Carol Bagley Amon, Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New...

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Judge Delays Ruling in Baffert-NYRA Case

BROOKLYN--After an-hour-and-forty minute hearing Monday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, in which lawyers representing Bob Baffert argued for a preliminary injunction that would allow the trainer to once again race at the New York Racing Association tracks, Judge Carol Bagley Amon did not render a decision and did not give a time frame for doing so. The hearing came on the heels of a May 17 announcement from NYRA in which the racing organization said Baffert had been temporarily suspended, which meant...

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The Week in Review: What the Larry Saumell Case Might Mean for Baffert

It was another week when the Bob Baffert-NYRA saga again dominated the headlines, with both sides killing a lot of trees with their voluminous and seemingly never ending legal filings. At times it was mind numbing, and the laymen among us are having a hard time discerning what is important, what is not, whether or not there are any precedents to consider and which side appears to be winning a fight that grows more acrimonious by the day. After Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive for betamethasone in the GI Kentucky...

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Judge Says Baffert Reply is Admissible

The federal judge presiding over the Bob Baffert versus the New York Racing Association ban case ruled Thursday that Baffert's affidavit, filed Wednesday as part of a 434-page "reply memorandum of law in further support of motion for preliminary injunction" of NYRA's ban, would not be stricken or disregarded, as NYRA had requested. NYRA's attorney, Henry Greenberg, argued that the reply included new information that the NYRA did not have time to investigate and that the entire filing or the affidavit should be stricken or disregarded. NYRA informed Baffert on...

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With Spa Meet in the Balance, NYRA Argues for Upholding Baffert Ban

With a July 12 federal court date looming to decide whether or not Bob Baffert's history of equine drug positives will keep him from entering horses at the upcoming and financially lucrative Saratoga Race Course meet, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) on June 30 filed a memorandum of law that opposes the Hall of Fame trainer's request for an injunction to lift the association's ban against him that has been in effect for the past six weeks. NYRA told Baffert via letter May 17 that he was temporarily not...

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Team Medina Spirit Goes to Court to Force Alternate Urine Testing

The connections of GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonic) have filed a civil complaint against the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) in an effort to force the agency to turn over the colt's post-race urine sample so it can be tested in a way that trainer Bob Baffert and owner Zedan Racing Stables, Inc., believe will prove that a betamethasone finding resulted from an ointment to treat a skin condition (Otomax) and not from an intra-articular injection. According to a June 7 filing in Kentucky's Franklin County Circuit Court...

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Baffert Team Will Fight If Banned From Preakness

While awaiting word from the Maryland Jockey Club concerning the status of Bob Baffert and Medina Spirit (Protonico) for the GI Preakness S., Baffert's lawyer Craig Robertson said he will seek a temporary restraining order if Medina Spirit is not allowed to run. His status became unclear Sunday when Baffert informed the media that he had been told by the Kentucky Racing Commission that Medina Spirit had tested positive for the corticosteroid betamethasone in tests conducted following the race. A few hours later, 1/ST, the owners of Pimlico, put out...

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Baffert Reveals Betamethasone Positive for Derby Winner Medina Spirit

Bob Baffert told the media Sunday morning at Churchill Downs that his stable has been informed by the Kentucky Racing Commission that GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive for the medication betamethasone in post-race tests conducted after the Derby. In a 13-minute press conference (video) at his barn on the Churchill Downs backstretch Baffert, denied any wrongdoing. "All I can tell you is that betamethasone is an allowed therapeutic medication, but we did not give it to this horse," Baffert said. "In fact, Medina Spirit has never...

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Letter to the Editor: Darrell Vienna

I read with interest the article "Baffert's Lawyer: Drape's `False' Story `Debunked'" published today on your website. Although I represent Mick Ruis, the following comments set forth facts that cannot be disputed and address a number of the patently false or clearly misleading representations contained in that article. JUSTIFY'S OFFICIAL SAMPLE AND SPLIT SAMPLE CONFIRMED THE PRESENCE OF SCOPOLAMINE. The prohibited substance, scopolamine, was detected in the official test sample collected from Justify following the running of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby. Split sample testing, requested by Justify's trainer, Bob...

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