Thomas Wingate

The Kentucky Court of Appeals on Friday denied a motion by trainer Bob Baffert and owner Amr Zedan to stay their penalties related to Medina Spirit's betamethasone positive in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby. This means the most severe of the sanctions, an under-appeal 90-day suspension imposed on Baffert by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC), will now go into effect as ordered on Monday, Apr. 4. In accordance with suspension-related regulations in California where Baffert is stabled at Santa Anita Park, signage was already being removed from his barn...

FRANKFORT, KY.--The hearing to appeal Bob Baffert's suspension by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in Franklin County (Ky.) Circuit Court was delayed Wednesday morning and rescheduled until Mar. 17. The delay was put into place to allow the KHRC hearing on the same matter, scheduled for this Friday, Mar. 4, to be held in advance of the Franklin County hearing, as a successful outcome for Baffert with the KHRC Friday would have rendered Wednesday's hearing moot. Judge Thomas Wingate said he would issue his decision on Monday, Mar. 21, after...

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...