THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2020 JUSTIFY & HOPPERTUNITY=S NYRA ANNOUNCES PURSE INCREASES STARTING OCT. 18 CONNECTIONS SEEK COURT by Bill Finley With impressive gains in handle and with the reopening of the BLOCK OF SCOPOLAMINE casino at Aqueduct, NYRA will increase purses starting Oct. 18 and for the remainder of the Belmont meet. Like many tracks, RE-HEARINGS NYRA was forced to make purse cuts due to COVID-19 related problems that reduced revenue sources. Rather than an across-the-board purse increase, NYRA will put more money into certain categories, in particular maiden races. The purse for an open maiden special weight race will go from $63,000 to $80,000. New York-bred maidens will see a purse increase from $52,000 to $70,000. Other purse increases include a $4,000 bump for open $25,000 claimers and a $3,000 increase for $40,000 maiden claimers. For the complete list, click here. Cont. p6 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY INCREDIBLE BOOK 2 SALE CLOSES AT TATTS A colt by Starspangledbanner (Aus) topped the third and final Justify winning the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby | Benoit session of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 2 at 360,000gns. Emma Berry reports. Click or tap here to go by T.D. Thornton straight to TDN Europe. Trainer Bob Baffert, plus the owners and two jockeys who rode the undefeated 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify and the MGISW Hoppertunity, filed a legal petition against the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Oct. 13, alleging that the CHRB's recent decision to reopen hearings on two scopolamine positives from those horses in 2018 amounts to "arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful conduct" that purportedly targets Baffert and his clients unfairly while supposedly damaging the horses' reputations as stallions. The petition, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks a judgment, injunction, and "peremptory writ of mandate commanding Respondent CHRB to dismiss the Complaints filed against Petitioners and cancel all hearings on the matter." The petitioners--Baffert, WinStar Farm LLC, China Horse Club, Head of Plains Partners LLC, Starlight Racing, Michael Pegram, Karl Watson, Paul Weitman, Mike Smith, and Flavien Prat--are also going after the CHRB for unspecified monetary damages, attorney fees, and court costs, plus "other, different, or further relief as the Court may deem just and proper," according to the 26-page court filing. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Thursday, October 15, 2020 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. 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[email protected] [email protected] TODAY’S GRADED STAKES EST Race Click for TV WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 4:57p Sycamore S.-GIII, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG International Editor Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 15 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • OCTOBER 15, 2020 Justify & Hoppertunity=s Connections Seek Court Block of own governing statute and rules, the CHRB correctly decided Scopolamine Hearings cont. from p1 that the positive results were due to naturally occurring AThis action challenges the CHRB's groundless decision to contamination in the horses' feed and therefore dismissed the reopen a closed matter and conduct a retroactive hearing with matter. Now, after almost two and a half years, the CHRB has an apparently foregone conclusion issued complaints and announced it to disqualify and redistribute intends to hold a hearing [Oct. 29] winnings from horse races that to consider retroactively occurred two and a half years ago. disqualifying these two horses." When those races [the [GI] Santa The filing contends that "The Anita Derby and [GIII] Tokyo City CHRB's attempted proceedings, Cup] were run in April 2018 and however, ignore a critical element: two horses (Justify and the CHRB could not have Hoppertunity, respectively) were disqualified either horse in 2018 declared the winners, the CHRB and cannot do so now because decided the very issue it is seeking scopolamine is a classified to revisit now,@ the court substance that, by law, does not documents state. permit disqualification. Further, the AThe CHRB has no legal or factual CHRB has no authority, or basis, to Hoppertunity winning the Tokyo City | Benoit basis for reopening its prior final reopen this closed matter. Rather, decision," the filing continues. "As the CHRB knew when it the CHRB has admitted it has issued its complaints and is holding decided this issue in 2018, both Justify and Hoppertunity tested a hearing simply to dispose of a civil action brought against it by positive for scopolamine just after their respective races in April a race runner-up, and solely as a way to avoid further litigation 2018. But after a thorough investigation and deliberation, and expense in that lawsuit." consistent with the well-established equine science and its very Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 15 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • OCTOBER 15, 2020 Bob Baffert & Justify | Sarah Andrew According to the Oct. 13 filing, AAll racing jurisdictions have rules that govern the sport and the presence of medications and substances in post-race blood and urine tests. California is no different, and the April 2018 tests were taken pursuant to those rules. Specifically, California's classification system delineates five classes of substances [and] four categories of penalties. [The more egregious and harmful] Class 1-3 substances correspond with penalty categories A and B, while Class 4-5 substances are associated with penalty categories C and D.@ AAt the time of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, just as it is today, the CHRB's rules designated scopolamine as a Class 4, penalty C substance. Significantly, disqualification is not an authorized penalty for Class 4, penalty C substances. Plainly stated, disqualification premised on the presence of scopolamine was not a permissible option for the CHRB in April 2018 under its own rules [nor is it an option today]." The filing continues: AThere have been numerous incidents of jimson weed contaminating bales of hay, leading to what are called >clusters' of horses testing positive for scopolamine when they unknowingly ingest contaminated feed. Fortunately, there is a proven scientific method for determining whether the presence of scopolamine in a horse is due to intentional administration or is the result of innocent contamination from hay. If the horse has ingested jimsonweed, blood tests of that horse will reveal the presence of atropine. On the other hand, if scopolamine has been intentionally administered, atropine will not be present.@ ARacing commissions routinely use the presence or absence of atropine in the blood as a determinative factor in deciding whether to pursue complaints against an owner or trainer.. Equally important, the amounts of scopolamine found in the blood of Justify and Hoppertunity..were small enough that they would have no pharmacological effect in a horse." Cont. p5 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 15 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • OCTOBER 15, 2020 Mick Ruis & Bolt d=Oro | Christie DeBernardis The filing states that, AThere were five other horses who tested positive for scopolamine during this time period. All seven horses were investigated by Dr. Rick Arthur, the CHRB's Equine Medical Director, and Rick Baedeker, the CHRB's Executive Director. Arthur and Baedeker determined that the cluster of scopolamine positives at Santa Anita in 2018 was the result of contaminated hay. They found jimson weed in hay that had been delivered to Santa Anita and the blood and urine samples of all the horses revealed the presence of atropine. The investigation and science were conclusive: this was a case of environmental contamination that had no effect whatsoever on all seven horses tested that day, nor the outcome of their respective races. Thus, Arthur and Baedeker jointly recommended to the Board of the CHRB that all seven cases be dismissed.@ AArthur