Report: CHRB may have 'abused its discretion' in Justify case

After Justify won the 2018 Santa Anita Derby and tested positive for scopolamine, a report from the California attorney general’s office obtained by the Washington Post raised concern that the California Horse Racing Board may have “abused its discretion” when ruling the positive was a result of environmental contamination and did not warrant disciplinary action.

According to the Post, a state lawyer penned a 23-page analysis of the case that pointed out a court “could find that the CHRB abused its discretion and acted in a manner that was arbitrary, capricious, or entirely lacking in evidentiary support” by dismissing the Justify positive.

However, both Rick Baedeker – the CHRB’s executive director at the time – and outgoing equine medical director Dr. Rick Arthur defended the board’s actions to the Post.

“It’s bizarre,” Baedeker said of the attorney general’s report. “You have a deputy attorney general criticizing the board for following the letter of the law.”

Arthur, who retires from the CHRB on July 1, told the Post he was “disappointed” how the case was kept secret, but otherwise it received no special treatment. In the Justify case, there was no public acknowledgement of the failed test by California regulators until the  New York Times broke the news in September 2019.

“The way this case was handled was not a favor for Bob Baffert,” Arthur said. “The way this case was handled was out of respect for Justify.”

Arthur pointed out even if the positive was not deemed to be a result of environmental contamination, it would have been impossible for the case to be fully adjudicated before Justify embarked on his Triple Crown quest in the Kentucky Derby just weeks later.

“This horse was going to run at the Triple Crown,” Arthur told the Post.

Arthur also sent an email to top CHRB officials, acquired by the Post, where he noted a disqualification from the Santa Anita Derby would be “terribly unfair.

“We have a real conundrum to sort out,” Arthur wrote.

You can access the full Washington Post report by clicking here.