Report: Zozos co-owner Butzow is charged with sexual assault
Barry Butzow, a longtime Minnesota-based racehorse owner who co-owned Grade 3-winning millionaire and 2022 Kentucky Derby runner Zozos, was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a bartender who worked at a party at his home in May.
Butzow was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct, according to a report from Melissa Turtinen of KMSP-TV, the Fox affiliate in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
According to the report of the criminal complaint, the woman accusing Butzow of assault was a bartender at a place Butzow frequented, and he hired her to work a party at his home May 18. She returned to his home May 20 at his request to help clean up some leftover food.
She alleged that he tried to kiss her several times and told her that she should not be driving after she said she needed to leave. She allegedly lost consciousness and then woke up fuzzy and disoriented in bed, with Butzow lying next to her and assaulting her. She tried to leave, but was blocked. Eventually she was able to run out, call her boyfriend and go to the hospital. The charge reportedly noted that a DNA test after the incident revealed that Butzow "was indicated as a possible contributor to the DNA mixture at a probability of 100 billion times more likely to include his DNA than any other unrelated individual."
According to the charges, Butzow admitted that he hired the bartender to work his cocktail party, he invited her back to clean up and they drank wine together. He said that he was rubbing her back but denied sexually assaulting her. According to a report from Jeff Day of the Minnesota Star-Tribune, he had no comment on the allegations. His attorney, Chris Madel, also declined to comment to the Star-Tribune.
Butzow, either individually or with partners, ranked among the top 20 owners in earnings at Canterbury Park each of the last nine years. According to Equibase, he was in partnerships that were third on the track's money list in 2004 and 2009.
Butzow bred and owned Zozos in partnership with his wife Joni. Trained by Brad Cox, Zozos amassed a 15: 7-1-1 record and $1,011,463 in earnings in a career that spanned from 2022 through 2024. In addition to his victory in the 2023 Ack Ack as the 7-10 favorite, he won two other times at the ungraded stakes level and was also second behind Epicenter in the 2022 Louisiana Derby (G2). He also finished 10th at 48-1 in the 2022 Kentucky Derby won by Rich Strike.
Butzow also campaigned the horse Hamazing Destiny, who won the 2012 Maryland Sprint Handicap (G3) at Pimlico, and the mare Bryan's Jewel, the winner of the 2013 Obeah (G3) at Delaware Park. His horses' career record, including those with all his partners, is 2149: 374-330-300 with $13,073,788 in earnings.