Franklin Circuit Court

With the clock ticking toward the Apr. 4 deadline for trainer Bob Baffert's looming 90-day suspension, a Kentucky Court of Appeals judge now wants to figure out whether the original venue chosen for legal action last month by the owner and trainer of disqualified 2021 GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit constitutes the correct county-level court. Dick Downey of the Blood-Horse first reported on the judge's order requesting briefs from the movants (Baffert and Zedan) and the respondent (the KHRC) covering just that single issue to be filed with the...

Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate on Friday vacated his own ruling from June which dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association against Churchill Downs and Keeneland for implementing rules prohibiting the race-day use of Lasix in 2-year-olds, according to published reports. The KHBPA had sought a temporary injunction to prevent the rules from being implemented, but Wingate ruled June 1 that the organization lacked standing to bring the litigatation. In his Friday ruling, Wingate agreed with the KHBPA's argument that it had not...

Franklin (Ky) Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate has denied a motion by the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (KHBPA) that sought a temporary injunction that would have kept Churchill Downs and Keeneland from running Lasix-free 2-year-old races. Wingate also granted a motion from the defendants to dismiss the case for "lack of standing." Much of the KHBPA's case resolved around its assertion that only the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) could make rules regarding Lasix. The ban on the medication at the two Kentucky tracks were house rules, written...