Judge does not grant Baltas his wish to race at Del Mar

A judge denied a lawsuit motion by trainer Richard Baltas seeking to force California racing authorities to accept his race entries, pending resolution of a complaint alleging that his staff improperly administered race-day medications to horses in his care.

Attorneys for Baltas asked the court to issue an immediate stay to halt the “de facto suspension of and illegal interference with” Baltas’ trainer’s license by California Horse Racing Board stewards pending a hearing on his appeal of the denial of entries during the Los Alamitos thoroughbred meeting that began on June 25.

The suit was filed after stewards began rejecting Baltas’s entries in the wake of a CHRB complaint alleging that employees of the veteran California trainer were captured on surveillance video between April 15 and May 8 administering higenamine and paeonol to 23 horses under his care.

The former is a stimulant that is banned in horse racing. Paeonol, a compound found in peonies, is an anti-inflammatory that long has been used to treat humans but is not approved for use in horses.

Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Mary H. Strobel rejected Baltas’s request for an immediate stay to end the denial of his entries on July 1, stating that “The court finds that it would be against the public interest (to intervene).”

That likely means Baltas will be unable to enter horses at the upcoming Del Mar meeting, since the next proceeding in the case – a trial-setting conference – is scheduled for Sept. 29, more than two weeks after the last day of racing at the Southern California track.

Baltas’s lawsuit was filed by attorneys Darrel Vienna and Carlo Fisco on June 29 but had not previously been reported.

Baltas said Monday that he could not comment on the matter and directed inquiries to his legal representatives.

Fisco said the case is now being handled by attorney Steven H. Haney, who did not return a call seeking comment.

The CHRB complaint was issued about six weeks after officials with 1/ST Racing, a division of racetrack owner The Stronach Group, barred Baltas from working or entering horses at Santa Anita Park and its other racetracks “pending the results of an investigation.” The initial statement from 1/ST Racing did not specify the nature of the investigation.

Baltas’s lawsuit referenced the CHRB complaint, saying that the regulatory agency had “issued a complaint against petitioner alleging certain regulatory violations for the untimely administration of feed supplements to his horses. None of petitioner’s horses have returned a positive test or been disqualified from racing because of these feed supplements,” it said.

By rejecting Baltas’s entries without citing any cause, it argued, “CHRB was seeking to interfere with petitioner’s fundamental property right in his license by interfering with his ability to engage in his livelihood.”

It added that the denial of his entries without a hearing “in effect amounts to an illegal summary suspension without complying with article 13 of the Administrative Procedure Act.”

The CHRB acknowledged in a statement last week that stewards had rejected Baltas’ entries at Los Alamitos but said the decision was based on two rules that allow the denial of entries “for good cause” and give stewards latitude to “refuse the entries of any person.”

Baltas has appealed the denial of his entries, but the CHRB statement said no hearing on the appeal had been scheduled.

A hearing on the CHRB complaint against Baltas is set for Aug. 3 before the Del Mar stewards.

Baltas, 61, has been a mainstay in Southern California racing since taking out his trainer’s license in 1991 after working under numerous accomplished trainers, including Tom Skiffington, Eric Guillot, Barry Abrams, Craig Dollase and Richard Mandella.

For his career, Baltas has had 4,265 starts with 722 winners, 640 seconds and 517 thirds, with earnings of nearly $44 million, according to Equibase.