Expert says science in Baffert-Medina Spirit case is inexact

Frankfort, Ky.

The day began with dry, pharmacological testimony from an expert who patiently answered 3 1/2 hours of questions on a Zoom call from California. It ended with a long, private session in which the public – and media – were told to wait outside.

In between, the third day of the Bob Baffert appeal hearing was punctuated by something the expert said about the inexact nature of the science of giving a horse betamethasone, the drug that led to the disqualification of the late Medina Spirit as the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

Dr. Heather Knych, an equine pharmacologist from the University of California, Davis, was asked what impact the drug had on Medina Spirit.

“I don’t think we can say one way or the other,” Knych said. “We don’t have the science to say one way or the other.”

That statement came during questioning from Jennifer Wolsing, the lead attorney for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Knych was called by the KHRC to provide scientific background that would support the commission’s medication regulations.

Wolsing specifically framed her question around the Baffert stable’s claim that “Medina Spirit was administered approximately 45 milligrams of Otomax from a bottle over a period of about April 9 and going through April 30, the day before the (2021) Derby,” she said. 

Kynch’s response was met with muted but somewhat audible satisfaction from Baffert’s legal team, which is building its case on its belief Kentucky’s medication laws are “vague and ambiguous.”

Testifying in what were early morning hours at her home base in California, Knych said she agreed with Kentucky’s designation of betamethasone as a class C medication.

“It is a therapeutic agent,” she said. “I would say that it has probably moderate potential to affect performance in that being a corticosteroid, it could at adequate concentrations potentially mask lameness or an injury.”

Knych, who is a member of the scientific advisory committee of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, said the regulation of betamethasone is steeped in safety.

“The primary reason that corticosteroids are so tightly regulated in horse racing and other performance-horse events, for that matter, is to eliminate the potential to affect performance, the potential to mask injury,” she said. “At the end of the day, I think first and foremost, the goal is to protect the horse and the jockeys.”

Parallels were drawn during Knych’s testimony to a 2015 case involving trainer Graham Motion. Taking his case to the Kentucky Supreme Court, Motion unsuccessfully appealed a $500 fine and a five-day drug suspension that came from the use of a muscle relaxant on one of his horses. Motion claimed he followed RMTC withdrawal guidelines for the medication in question but still was flagged, something Baffert has said happened to him with Medina Spirit.

“According to Graham Motion’s case, when we have uncertainty in the scientific field, which we clearly do here, as long as the KHRC has a rational basis that supports its regulation, the KHRC is allowed to go ahead and regulate,” Wolsing said.

“I just want to object to the mischaracterization of the Motion case,” said Craig Robertson, a member of Baffert’s legal team who represented Motion in the case that lasted until 2018. “(Wolsing) seems to say, ‘We can do whatever we want when there’s no science.’ That is not at all the case. (The Motion) case says you have to have a rational scientific basis for what you do. In this particular case, all this stuff you’re talking about now was not presented as a reason for the rule change at all.”

The rule change in question was removal of an allowable threshold of betamethasone. That was changed to zero tolerance just before the 2020 Kentucky Derby. Baffert’s lawyers have contended that the actual regulations are murky.

After a lunch break, lawyers met behind closed doors for another 3 1/2 hours to dispense with what presiding officer Clay Patrick, a Frankfort attorney, called “proprietary information.” It was the same reason given for a half-hour session behind closed doors before Knych’s testimony.

Baffert’s appeal to try and get a 90-day suspension and $7,500 fine removed from his record led to this hearing that began Monday, resumes Thursday at 9 a.m. EDT and is expected to spill into next week. He and owner Amr Zedan also are trying to get Medina Spirit restored as the 2021 Kentucky Derby winner. KHRC stewards disqualified the deceased colt in February at the same time they sanctioned Baffert.

Patrick has the task of making a non-binding ruling that the 14 members of the KHRC may accept, revise or reject at some future date. That may determine whether Baffert goes back to court for further appeals.