Baltas hearing in horse-doping case is pushed to Sept. 14

A stewards’ hearing into allegations trainer Richard Baltas doped horses scheduled for Wednesday at Del Mar has been pushed back to Sept.14 at Los Alamitos, a California Horse Racing Board spokesman told Horse Racing Nation Tuesday.

On May 12, Baltas was essentially suspended from entering or working horses at both Santa Anita and Golden Gate by 1/ST Racing, the owner of both tracks. Track officials alleged that four days earlier, video surveillance of Baltas’s Santa Anita barn showed stable staff orally administering substances to the 4-year-old Noble Reflection. In California, only the diuretic Lasix may be given to a horse on race day.

Noble Reflection was scratched by stewards from the scheduled start.

The CHRB underwent its own investigation into the matter and filed a complaint against Baltas on June 21 citing 47 separate violations. It alleges that between April 15 and May 8, a total of 23 horses in his care “were administered a substance on days they were entered into races.”

According to the CHRB, testing done at UC Davis found the presence of Higenamine, a “general stimulant” that is banned in human athletics by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and the anti-inflammatory Paenol that is said to have analgesic properties. 

Baltas was originally scheduled to meet with stewards at Los Alamitos on July 1, but a continuance to Aug. 3 at Del Mar was granted at the request of Baltas’s attorney at the time, Darrell Vienna. On Tuesday, Vienna told HRN via email he no longer represents Baltas in the case and that Los Angeles-based attorney Steven Haney has taken over.

In late June when the Southern California circuit shifted from Santa Anita to Los Alamitos, Baltas tried to enter horses at Los Alamitos but was denied by stewards. A pair of state racing rules were cited in the action, including CHRB Rule 1542 that states “for good cause, the stewards may refuse entry to any race, or declare ineligible to race and order removed of the premises, any horse.”

Baltas subsequently filed a request in Los Angeles Superior Court asking that the CHRB be forced to allow him to enter horses at Los Alamitos, but it was denied.

Baltas, 61, operated one of the larger stables in Southern California. Many of the horses previously in his care have been transferred to trainer George Papaprodromou. Following the action in California, Baltas had a handful of starters at Churchill Downs and Lone Star but has had none since July 16.