Zedan team criticizes Churchill as Kentucky Derby ruling awaits

Louisville, Ky.

In a hearing filled with procedure and punctuated by accusations that Churchill Downs Inc. refused to negotiate a settlement, a judge repeated his intent to rule this week on Zedan Racing Stables’ demand to let Grade 1 winner Muth and trainer Bob Baffert into Kentucky Derby 2024.

Judge Mitch Perry heard Lindsey Keiser, a lawyer from the Kentucky attorney general’s office, reject constitutional concerns that a two-year-old law designed to discourage frivolous lawsuits could be an obstacle to his ability to make a ruling before the Derby is run May 4.

Flashback: Judge hears Monday from Zedan, Churchill lawyers.

“All decision-making authority as to the merits remains with the court,” Keiser said. “The court first determines whether (the law) even applies and then decides whether to grant or deny the motion to dismiss. (The law) does not supplant the decision-making authority.”

Known as UPEPA, which stands for uniform public-expression protection act, the law was an ingredient in Churchill’s call to throw out the case. Zedan’s side was concerned that one provision of UPEPA could have slammed the brakes for 30 days on any further action in the current case. Keiser said that was not true because the motions that Perry has been asked to judge were unrelated to the constitutional question.

“We don’t necessarily agree with that, that they are unrelated,” CDI’s Washington-based attorney Tom Dupree said. “I think our position would be that they are related, but I certainly don’t have a quarrel with I think the attorney general’s bottom-line point, which is that will enable the court to avoid the constitutional question.”

In other words, Churchill did not want to stop Perry from ruling on the questions before him.

Near the end of the 23-minute hearing, Zedan’s Louisville attorney William Brammell Jr. responded to Perry’s questions at a Monday hearing about whether the two sides had reached a settlement. Brammell used the occasion to criticize CDl, claiming Zedan and Baffert reached out to resolve the ongoing dispute last summer. That was when Baffert’s original two-year suspension for Medina Spirit’s failed drug test after the 2021 Derby was extended through at least the end of 2024.

“This is a case that should have been resolved really since the get-go,” Brammell said. “When this suspension was extended back in July of 2023, within a week of that, Bob Baffert reached out to the president of Churchill Downs (Bill Mudd) and said, ‘Can we talk about this and try and solve this?’ After that happened throughout the next few months, Baffert and Zedan Stables were in communication with the chairman of the board (Alex Rankin) of Churchill Downs trying to find a way to resolve this but made no real progress.

“At the end of the year and the beginning of the new year, the owners of Zedan Racing Stables called (Churchill CEO) Bill Carstanjen multiple times and left messages but got no response in an effort to try to resolve this. In January 2024, Baffert and Zedan dropped their respective appeals to the (Kentucky) Horse Racing Commission with the idea and the understanding that if those were dropped, that was going to be a peace offering. There was going to be a way to move forward here. We didn’t move forward then.”

Brammell then recounted the decision to bring this case after Muth won March 30 in the Arkansas Derby (G1), which would have qualified the colt for the Kentucky Derby if it were not for Baffert’s suspension. He said the Zedan team first tried to engage CDI in a conversation to resolve the dispute before bringing the current lawsuit.

“This is something that we’ve been very willing to talk about and resolve as far back as we could, but it takes two to tango,” Brammell said.

CDI attorneys did not respond to that, but Perry said it was important to hear that, because it indicated his rulings on the preliminary injunction and motion to dismiss would not bring an end to this case.

“There’s got to be a next step that’s not clearly visible to me at this moment,” Perry said.

Chad McTighe, a Louisville-based attorney for Churchill, said the next steps will be made clear after Perry rules this week.

“I think we’ll be in a much better position to revisit and figure out pretty promptly where we are we going and have a plan that we can come to you with,” McTighe said.

That was the long view of Zedan Stables v Churchill Downs Inc. For now the clock is ticking. Perry is on the verge of ruling on whether Muth should get into Derby, for which horses have to be checked in at Churchill Downs by April 27.