Michael Beychok

A New Jersey federal judge's order on Tuesday transferred a class-action lawsuit brought by a group of bettors against trainer Bob Baffert to the Western District of Kentucky, meaning that the nearly three-year-old case will now go before its third different court since 2021. The original federal lawsuit was filed in California. In it, a group of horseplayers alleged they were cheated out of their property by Baffert when his betamethasone-positive trainee, Medina Spirit, crossed the finish wire first in the GI Kentucky Derby and purportedly prevented the plaintiffs from...

The New Jersey-based lawsuit in which a group of bettors are alleging they were cheated out of their property by Bob Baffert when his betamethasone-positive trainee, Medina Spirit, crossed the finish wire first in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby and purportedly prevented the plaintiffs from cashing winning tickets on the runner-up is on the cusp of being transferred back to a federal court in California where it was first initiated 2 1/2 years ago. In a Dec. 22 filing in United States District Court (District of New Jersey), the judge...

A federal judge in Kentucky has dismissed the class-action lawsuit against trainer Bob Baffert and Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), that was initiated by a group of horseplayers who alleged negligence, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment because their losing pari-mutuel bets on the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby weren't honored as winners after Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive for and was subsequently disqualified for a betamethasone overage. The July 20 order tossing the case out of United States District Court, Western District of Kentucky (Louisville Division), could have ramifications on a...

Michael Beychok, the 2012 National Handicapping Championship winner, has made plenty of headlines this year. A well-known, outspoken horseplayer, Beychok joined the latest episode of Bettor Things with Joe Bianca this week to talk about his class-action suit against Bob Baffert surrounding the since-vacated 2021 Kentucky Derby victory of Medina Spirit, his vow to move his handle to sports betting in response to drug issues in racing, the approach to tournament play that helped him win the NHC, his day job as a political consultant and more. Also this week,...

Michael Beychock, the 2012 National Handicapping Championship winner, has made plenty of headlines this year. A well-known, outspoken horseplayer, Beychok joined the latest episode of Bettor Things with Joe Bianca this week to talk about his class-action suit against Bob Baffert surrounding the since-vacated 2021 Kentucky Derby victory of Medina Spirit, his vow to move his handle to sports betting in response to drug issues in racing, the approach to tournament play that helped him win the NHC, his day job as a political consultant and more. Also this week,...

Monday's ruling by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) that disqualified Medina Spirit from the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby has now triggered dueling letters to the federal judge overseeing the class-action case in which a group of bettors are suing trainer Bob Baffert for allegedly engaging in a years-long pattern of racketeering based on his purported "doping" of Thoroughbreds. The plaintiffs in the case, led by Michael Beychok, the winner of the 2012 National Horseplayers Championship, on Feb. 22 filed a letter in United States District Court (District of New...

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) selected five handicappers for induction to the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC)'s Hall of Fame: Stanley Bavlish, Michael Beychok, David Gutfreund, Paul Matties, Jr., and the late J. Randy Gallo. The five horseplayers are the eighth class of inductees and will be recognized during the 22nd NHC Champions Dinner Jan. 30. The dinner will be held at the conclusion of the NHC, which is presented by Racetrack Television Network, Caesars Entertainment, and Bally's Las Vegas. Honorees were chosen by their peers and join 14...

Breakage, the practice of rounding down bettors' payouts to the nearest 10 or even 20-cent number rather than paying the deserved amount to the penny, has long been a thorn in horseplayers' sides. Kentucky state representative Adam Koenig, an avid horseplayer himself, is trying to do something about it in his state. Wednesday morning, Koenig joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss the bill he's sponsoring to eliminate breakage in Kentucky, as well as his proposed sports betting legislation,...

Michael Beychok has been one of the most visible horseplayers in the sport for a while. He's a winner of the National Handicapping Championship, a horseplayer advocate and a public handicapper for the New Orleans Times-Picayune who has spent the better part of his life betting on the horses. Just not for much longer. Beychok, who is the leading figure in a class-action lawsuit filed by gamblers who say they would have made money on the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby had it not been won by Medina Spirit (Protonico), says...

Trainer Bob Baffert told a federal judge Wednesday that a group of bettors who are suing him in a class-action lawsuit alleging a years-long pattern of racketeering based on his purported "doping" of Thoroughbreds have twisted their case so far from reality that their alleged misstatements amount to libel. In a Jan. 12 filing in United States District Court (District of New Jersey), Baffert stated that the plaintiffs' recent attempt to portray him as the "Lance Armstrong of the horse racing world" is a "desperate conglomeration of highly inflammatory statements...designed...

Alleging that trainer Bob Baffert "is the Lance Armstrong of the horse racing world" because of a purported years-long pattern of racketeering activity related to the alleged "doping" of Thoroughbreds, a group of horse bettors who brought a class-action lawsuit seeking compensation for damages over the result of the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby urged a federal judge Wednesday not to grant Baffert's motion to dismiss the case. The original version of the suit, led by Michael Beychok, the winner of the 2012 National Horseplayers Championship, was filed four days after...

Zedan Racing Stables, Inc., the owner of GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico), has been voluntary dismissed from a class-action federal lawsuit initiated by a group of horseplayers who want to collect damages from a purported years-long pattern of racketeering activity related to the alleged "doping" of Thoroughbreds by trainer Bob Baffert. Zedan Racing's founder is Amr Zedan. The dismissal "without prejudice" was filed by the plaintiffs June 23. Baffert, plus his incorporated racing stable, now remain as the only defendants in the suit, which was filed May 13...