Kentucky Horse Racing Commission

Every week, the TDN publishes a roundup of key official rulings from the primary tracks within the four major racing jurisdictions of California, New York, Florida and Kentucky. Here's a primer on how each of these jurisdictions adjudicates different offenses, what they make public (or not) and where. California Track: Santa Anita Date: 02/18/2022 Licensee: Jonathan Wong, trainer Penalty: $500 fine Violation: Late declaration Explainer: Trainer Jonathan Wong, who was scheduled to start She Said Yes in the third race at Santa Anita Park on Feb. 13, 2022, is fined...

Dan Ross's article from Sunday, February 20 highlighting the many unanswered questions regarding provisions of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) should concern anyone who cares about American racing. For an entity which many are expecting to be vitally important to the future of the sport, it has left much to be desired in the way of its public communications. Just shy of four months from launch, the lack of answers to a major industry publication should concern anyone involved in, or subject to, the new organization. Transparency is...

First across the wire in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby, Medina Spirit (Protonico) has been officially disqualified by the Kentucky Horse Racing (KHRC) Board of Stewards, which also handed trainer Bob Baffert a 90-day suspension and a $7,500 fine. The news came via a short press release Monday from the KHRC, which also posted the ruling to its website. Within a few hours of the announcement from the KHRC Churchill Downs officials issued a statement recognizing Mandaloun (Into Mischief) as the winner of the race. "Today Churchill Downs recognizes Mandaloun...

Against the backdrop of the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby drug positive investigation dragging past the nine-month mark and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) maintaining a conspicuous silence throughout the drawn-out process, KHRC chairman Jonathan Rabinowitz obliquely referred to the scandal for the first time at an open, public meeting Tuesday. Although Rabinowitz did not specifically mention Medina Spirit's betamethasone overage or trainer Bob Baffert's long-delayed stewards' hearing that was finally conducted Feb. 14, that controversy was almost certainly the catalyst for the chairman stating that the KHRC is seeking...

A full 289 days after the running of the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby, the Churchill Downs stewards finally got around Monday to holding a closed-door hearing regarding the positive post-race test for Medina Spirit (Protonico). And while a decision may not be imminent, Clark Brewster, the lawyer representing trainer Bob Baffert, said he emerged from the hearing hopeful that his side will prevail. "Upon an honest and fair-minded review, Bob Baffert and Medina Spirit will be fully exonerated," Brewster wrote in a text. As has been the case with the...

The 2021 Kentucky Thoroughbred Breeders' Incentive Funds (KBIF) distributed funds totaling $15.9 million to the state's breeders, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission announced Monday. "Every Thoroughbred farm, big or small, contributes to the equine industry's combined economic impact of $6.5 billion, which also employs 60,494 Kentuckians," said Gov. Andy Beshear. "Kentucky is known as the 'Horse Capital of the World' for a reason and it's important we support those in this industry to ensure its continued success." The KBIF is funded through a percentage of the sales tax paid when...

A long-awaited Feb. 7 Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) stewards' hearing regarding Medina Spirit's positive test result for betamethasone in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby reportedly got postponed from Monday to the following week. After a wait of 283 days since the alleged infraction, Monday's hearing involving trainer Bob Baffert apparently has been rescheduled for Feb. 14. WLKY-TV in Kentucky first broke the news of the non-hearing and its new date. TDN attempted to confirm the report by sending emails to KHRC chief state steward Barbara Borden, KHRC executive director...

Attorneys in the hearing pitting NYRA vs. Bob Baffert made their opening statements Monday in what turned into a sparring session, with one side claiming NYRA Board members had a vendetta against Baffert and the other contending that the Hall of Fame trainer was responsible for a "rampage of doping violations" and is deserving of a temporary suspension. The hearing, expected to last from three to five days, will determine whether or not NYRA's attempts to suspend Baffert over a rash of medication positives, including one in the 2021 GI...

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has vacated the sanctions it imposed on trainer Joe Sharp following five positive tests for levamisole in horses who ran at Churchill Downs in November 2019. A KHRC ruling issued Thursday and first reported by Blood-Horse, read, "Due to the de-classification of levamisole in August 2015 by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, all penalties previously assessed to Owner/Trainer Joe Sharp in Stewards' Rulings #21-0006, #21-0008, #21-0010, #21-0011 and #21-0012 are hereby vacated." Sharp was suspended 30 days and fined $2,500 by the KHRC last January...

You've all heard this song before, I'm sure, but humor me. I was co-owner of a horse who was running at Turfway Park last week. So I sent the requisite information to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to get licensed in the state before the horse ran Dec. 31. In speaking with a woman in the office, I was asked if I wanted to get a one-year or two-year license. Since I don't often run horses, I decided on the shorter option only to be told my "one-year" license would...

Bob Baffert filed a legal response Friday to the New York Racing Association (NYRA)'s recent attempt to dismiss his amended civil complaint, in which the Hall-of-Fame trainer is fighting an allegedly "sham" hearing process initiated by NYRA to determine if he will be excluded from New York's premier tracks. The Dec. 10 filing in United States District Court (Eastern District of New York) rebutted and reargued a number of legal points that have already been volleyed back and forth by both sides since Baffert filed the initial version of his...

Kentucky stewards have disqualified two winners and a third-place horse while assessing trainers Philip Bauer and Greg Foley 30-day suspensions and $500 fines for three separate post-race drug tests that came back positive in recent months. It was not immediately known if appeals were in the works. Bauer's two suspensions will run concurrently because the stewards cited mitigating circumstances (including "first medication violation in training career"), but he will be responsible for paying both fines. Foley's one suspension got halved via stay to 15 days, also because of mitigating circumstances...