Justify owners, Baffert sue CHRB over renewed drug test investigation

The owners, trainer and jockeys for Justify and Hoppertunity have filed a lawsuit against the California Horse Racing Board, objecting to the board's renewal of an investigation into positive drug tests on the Thorougbreds.

City News Service in Los Angeles reports that the plaintiffs are Bob Baffert, who trained both horses; Justify owners WinStar Farm LLC and China Horse Club; jockey Mike Smith, who rode Justify to victory in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby and Triple Crown; Flavien Prat, Hoppertunity’s jockey when he won the Tokyo City Cup at Santa Anita in April 2018; and Hoppertunity owners Karl Watson, Michael Pegram and Paul Weitman.

Last month, the CHRB voted during closed session to proceed with a complaint seeking to disqualify Justify from his Santa Anita Derby win and the redistribution of that purse based on laboratory findings that his post-race sample tested positive for scopolamine.

Baffert has contended that the positive drug test was caused by feed contaminated with jimson weed, which has been shown to be a performance inhibitor.

The CHRB also is seeking the disqualification of Hoppertunity from his Tokyo City Cup win and the redistribution of that purse based on laboratory findings that his post-race sample tested positive for scopolamine.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction directing the CHRB to dismiss the complaints filed against Justify and Hoppertunity and cancellation of all hearings, according to the CNS report.

The petition claims that “this action challenges the CHRB’s groundless decision to reopen a closed matter and conduct a retroactive hearing with an apparently foregone conclusion to disqualify and redistribute winnings from horse races that occurred 2 1/2 years ago,” according to the CNS report.

A CHRB spokesman told CNS that the board does not comment on pending litigation.