Zedan vs. Churchill: How it might affect the Kentucky Derby

Those on the side of Churchill Downs call Monday afternoon’s hearing a Hail Mary, a last, long-shot chance for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert to compete in Kentucky Derby 2024, even though he is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit that will be heard in Jefferson County Circuit Court by judge Mitch Perry.

Amr Zedan, an owner who is fiercely loyal to Baffert, brought the case against Churchill Downs Inc. He hopes to win a temporary injunction that would get his Grade 1 Arkansas Derby winner Muth and Baffert into the Kentucky Derby in less than three weeks.

Flashback: Judge hears motions in Zedan lawsuit.

A clear indication that Monday’s hearing is not merely another example of paper pushing will be the expected appearance of high-powered attorney John Quinn, who was hired by Zedan. Based in Los Angeles, Quinn has had such clients as LIV Golf in its fight against the PGA Tour, Samsung in its legal war with Apple and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in its everyday existence for the past third of a century.

The Zedan case is different from others in a nearly three-year-old fight with Churchill Downs. Earlier cases centered on the push to restore Medina Spirit as the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby. It was after that race when the colt tested positive for betamethasone and eventually was disqualified under a zero-tolerance standard. Zedan and Baffert unsuccessfully argued the medication was applied legally with an ointment and based on an application procedure recommended by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Medina Spirit’s failed drug test was the linchpin to Churchill’s eventual two-year suspension of Baffert from its racetracks. More than four months after Baffert and Zedan lost a federal case last year, the suspension was extended through the end of 2024.

Zedan has built this lawsuit around his belief that Churchill Downs capriciously extended the ban. He said he bought Muth for $2 million and five other horses for another $8.7 million last year and placed them in Baffert’s care with the expectation there would be no eligibility questions.

“CDI’s indefinite extension of its ban on Baffert-trained horses, led by CEO Bill Carstanjen, has no basis in law or in fact apart from Carstanjen’s inflated ego and personal vendetta, and it cannot withstand scrutiny,” Zedan Racing Stables said in a formal statement April 3, the day the suit was filed and first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

In a written response, CDI lawyers asked Perry to dismiss most if not all of Zedan’s case, calling it a SLAPP suit that is illegal under Kentucky law. That was a reference to strategic lawsuits against public participation, a fancy way of saying frivolous.

“The demand for a last-minute judicial takeover of the world’s most storied horse race,” CDI attorneys wrote, “is baseless, outrageous and should be immediately rejected.”

As legal correspondent Dick Downey pointed out in his reporting for BloodHorse, CDI used the anti-SLAPP law to ask Perry to “decide this motion to dismiss before deciding Zedan’s motion for a temporary injunction” that would allow Muth into the Kentucky Derby.

Zedan’s side responded to the response by saying, “CDI admits its extended ban is based only on its dissatisfaction with Baffert supposedly (making) a false narrative (such as) uttering words in public interviews that displease CDI.”

Perry heard from both sides this past week, promising a ruling Monday on CDI’s motion to dismiss.

“Everybody involved in horse racing is watching this issue, I'm sure,” Perry said at the first hearing, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. He also said, “I don’t want a circus. That’s not going to happen in this court.”

Regardless of how Perry rules Monday, the loser seems certain to go right away to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, especially since the countdown to the Derby makes this case a race against the clock. Horses who could run for the roses May 4 must be at the Churchill Downs stables by April 27, the day entries will be taken and post positions drawn.