12 minute read
The Kentucky Derby — A Case Study for Understanding Racing’s Regulatory Process
signed by Martin’s Last Dollar Ranch, who sold for $15,000. Next, was FROSTED LITTLE SNAP, a palomino stallion also from Martin’s Last Dollar Ranch sold for $6,200. Completing the top 3 was SHINNG DULCES, a palomino filly bred by Chisum Ranch sold for $7,500.
The entire Sale of 72 head sold averaged $7,271 with the top 5 averaging $21,600 and top 10 averaging $16,700. The HPRBA will hold its 23nd Annual Sale on Saturday, June 4, 2022 in Amarillo, Texas in conjunction with the Coors Cowboy Club Ranch Rodeo. For more information visit the HPRBA website at www.hprba.com, and keep up on Facebook, by following High Plains
“It was a record-breaking sale for the HPRBA ...”
Ranchers and Breeders Association, or on Instagram at HPRBA.horsesale. ▫
The Kentucky Derby – A Case Study for Understanding Racing’s Regulatory Process
by Wendy Davis, National Animal Interest Alliance Board Member
The Kentucky Derby is the oldest continuously held major sporting event in the United States. It has been contested every year at Churchill Downs without interruption since the inaugural running on May 17, 1875.
The last few years of America’s most iconic horse race have been anything but ordinary.
Two years ago, Maximum Security was disqualified from his 2019 Derby win due to interference coming into the homestretch – the first winner ever disqualified for interference in the history of the race. At the time there was disbelief from the public who watches racing only on the first Saturday in May. For those who work with the rules of racing on a daily basis, the decision was not surprising. Other than this race being watched around the world, the decision to disqualify for interference (defined as an action that cost another horse “the opportunity for a better placing”) as was straightforward.
What was out of the norm was the legal battle that lasted until late August 2020 when the United States Court of Appeals supported the opinion of U.S. District Court Judge Karen Caldwell, who ruled Nov. 15, 2019, that disqualification decisions are not subject to judicial review and that the disqualification procedure in place does not implicate an interest protected under the due process clause of the Constitution.
This year’s Derby, Medina Spirit, trained by Bob Baffert, was not without controversy as the winner may become only the second horse in the history of the race to be disqualified for a medication violation. The only other came in 1968 when Dancer’s Image was disqualified for the presence of phenylbutazone. Both incidents brought the rules of racing to the front pages of newspapers and magazines across the country and left people wondering about just what is going on.
AUCTIONEERS
www.jandjauction.com 575-485-2508
Antique Tractor & Farm Equipment Auction August 28, 2021 @ Noon
Located In Lake Arthur, NM (Artesia)
Online Auction of Antique Tractors and Farm Equipment Complete Catalog will be available online early August.
Understanding the regulatory system can seem difficult and complicated but it truly is a straightforward process. There are two very important but separate parts to consider in the Baffert case – actions taken by a governmental agency and actions taken by a private entity. These issues are distinctly separate, but the lines are often confused in articles found in non-racing publications.
It’s important to first understand the basics of racing regulation. Each state individually determines if racing – and the associated wagering – is legal in the state.
If the state determines that racing is legal, an administrative agency is created within the state to promulgate the rules and regulations under which racing will be held. Racing regulations across the United States are very similar but not exact, just as driving rules can be different from state to state. This body is called a racing commission or racing board – and functions like the many other administrative bodies within the state – such as the real estate or cosmetology boards, etc.
HARRISON
QUARTER HORSES
Mr. D. J. Harrison began breeding Quarter
Horses in the 1930s on his ranch in Sonora, Texas, and began registering his Quarter Horses with the AQHA in 1941. The horses were raised primarily to work cattle. Mr. Dan J. Harrison, Jr. followed his father, raising Quarter Horses on his ranches in South Texas. His ranch outside Fulshear, Texas, served as the main breeding operation – as it still does today.
In 1997, the American Quarter Horse Association honored both men with the Legacy Award, a recognition for their 56 continuous years of registering Quarter Horses. Horses like King Moore by King, Old Sorrel grandson, Little Huero, Les Glo, Skipa Star and Colonel Freckles heavily influenced the Harrison breeding program.
If you visit Memorial Hall at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, you will see the niche which honors and perpetuates the memory of D. J. Harrison and Dan J. Harrison, Jr.
In Western Horseman’s Legends, Volume 5, which features outstanding stallions and mares that have had a significant impact on the Quarter Horse breed, Skipa Star is featured. Our deceased stallion Skipastarsky, an own son of Skipa Star, was the 1983 AQHA High Point Jr. Heeling Horse, among many other accomplishments and sired 151 foals.
TYLER RIVETTE O:281-342-4703 • C:832-494-8871 harrisonquarterhorses@yahoo.com www.harrisonquarterhorseranch.com
The board or commission regulates all who participate in the sport by requiring them to be licensed. Rule violations are adjudicated by a well-defined regulatory process as defined by the state’s Administrative Procedures Act. The 14th Amendment clearly comes into place with the line, “…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
If accused of a rule violation, the licensee is assured of due process which is defined as notice of a violation and the opportunity to be heard in a formal regulatory proceeding because the state issued the person a license and the state can’t issue a fine or suspend the license – as it is considered a property right - without due process.
So what does all of this have to do with this year’s Derby winner Medina Spirit and Bob Baffert?
After the 2021 Derby, Baffert was notified by the regulatory body in Kentucky that the post-race sample taken from Median Spirit contained betamethasone. As a part of the regulatory process, the trainer can request to have the second sample tested by another lab to confirm the presences of the substance named. The second lab confirmed the medication.
Betamethasone is on Association of Racing Commissioner’s list of controlled medications that have been determined to be a legitimate therapeutic medication used by veterinarians. Initially Baffert denied the horse was treated with betamethasone as it is most commonly used as an intra-articular injection – which would not have been permitted just prior to the race.
Shortly thereafter, Baffert suggested that the drug was introduced via a cream used for an ongoing skin irritation on the horse’s hip and acknowledged treating Medina Spirit with an antifungal ointment called Otomax, of which he was unaware, contained betamethasone. The prescription for the cream, written by a veterinarian, was confirmed on the horse’s (required) medical records.
It is a violation to find this medication in the horse’s system above the small threshold amount determined not to have the potential to affect the outcome of the race. In all cases, the trainer, as the insurer of the condition of the horse, is responsible. The question is the severity of the penalty.
What makes this case so interesting is that normal penalty for this violation, with
Mesalands Community College Leads the Way Advancing Traditions of the Southwest
Tucked away in the shadow of Tucumcari Mountain in the heart of New Mexico’s cow country, Mesalands Community College provides unique hands-on training to advance the traditions and profitability of the American Rancher, and uphold New Mexico’s cowboy legacy with a nationally ranked collegiate rodeo team.
The classroom setting at Mesalands is anything but traditional, yet the college experience offers the next generation of ranch and natural resource managers multiple applied learning venues to develop skills and business management essentials to become a firstgeneration entrepreneur or add a diversified skill set to a multi-generational ranch legacy.
Mesalands is the only learning academy in the Southwest where students can leave with the experience, confidence, and credentials to make a lasting impact on the economies that built and continue to sustain rural New Mexico. In two years or less students can return to rural New Mexico with more than a diploma, but nationally recognized certification in Wind Energy, Farrier Science, Silversmithing, Cowboy Arts, and Ranch Management.
Name one college where a student, in a matter of two years can learn to shoe a horse, create handmade bits and spurs, master artificial insemination and ultrasound techniques, and harness energy from the wind.
Mesalands has and will continue the legacy of the western pioneer by creating forward thinking and progressive learning platforms for students. The North American Wind Research and Training Center (NAWRTC), on the campus of Mesalands, is the authority on wind energy in the state of New Mexico and arguably across the Nation. A fully functional three-hundred-foot turbine plus a Nacelle (the fuselage of a wind turbine) sits on campus for students to train and learn on.
The Cowboy Arts and Silversmith program, unique to Mesalands, teaches the craftsmanship for bits, spurs, and jewelry and the skills for business management, marketing, and direct sales.
Coming in the Fall of 2020, Mesalands (in cooperation with the Niche Meat Processors Assistance Network) will be New Mexico’s home to the Western Meat School - an innovative learning experience where ranchers, butchers and others can learn how to direct market beef and lamb.
Mesalands Community College … Leading the way into the Future of Rural New Mexico.
www.facebook.com/ Mesalands
<< cont from page 22
ruling on Baffert’s racing license and on their grounds. This is purely a private enforce it in their state also. This is known business decision, or as some see it, a public no mitigating circumstances (that may be as reciprocity of rulings and has long been relations decision related to integrity initiaused if this violation is considered to be due held as a foundation of racing regulation tives promoted by Churchill Downs. to a topical ointment) in Kentucky involves and integrity and stands up to legal scrutiny. The right to deny access to private propa disqualification and a loss of purse. Other The response to the medication viola- erty requires no due process as is it not an states, like California, look at this violation tion from race tracks is a totally separate action of the state. Under common law, the differently and it would only merit a fine for issue. It is not a part of the regulatory process. management of a place of amusement has the trainer but no disqualification, or loss of purse, as it’s seen as a mild infraction of Private Property Rights the right to exclude people from their property for any or no reason. This allows a the rules. Churchill Downs made it known that it racetrack to exclude a person for any or no
As of the writing of this article, the Ken- is using its private property rights to reason whether or not the person is a tucky Horse Racing Commission has not exclude Baffert from participating in racing licensee of the commission, as long as the held any due process hearing on the rule violation; thus there are no regulatory sanctions against Baffert’s license. If a sanction should be issued, other racing states would uphold Kentucky’s “The response to the medication violation from race tracks is a totally separate issue. It is not a part of the regulatory process.”
State Action?
The New York Racing Association (NYRA), operators of Belmont Park, Aqueduct and Saratoga Race Course also stated that they were excluding Baffert from entering horses under private property rights. Again, this was a business decision, not a regulatory action.
But in this case, NYRA’s private property rights were challenged by Baffert using a “1983 claim” (42 U.S.C §1983). Court action brought under this claim must show that the person has a liberty or property interest (in this instance, “property” is a New York racing license) that is protected by the U.S. Constitution that they are being deprived of, and there was state action involved in depriving them of that interest without due process.
Because NYRA is franchised by the state of New York, it is believed they have a symbiotic relationship; a condition where the overall relationship between an entity and the state is so intertwined that it is impossible to distinguish between the action of the entity and action of the state. In midJuly, the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of trainer Bob Baffert’s motion for a preliminary injunction against NYRA’s exclusion. The judge determined that NYRA’s suspension of Baffert should not have taken place without some sort of hearing allowing him to address the organization’s accusations against him.
This saga is far from over as the next step from NYRA is certainly a due process proceeding for Baffert while at the same time the public, as well as regulators from other states, wait for the decision from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. ▫
Josh Armstrong
Colt Starting/ Horse Finishing 575-312-2291
A Monfette Construction Co. Drinking Water Storage Tanks
Veteran Owned 100 -11,000 Gallons In Stock
NRCS Approved
Not Just a Little Better — A Lot High Specific Gravity, Heavy Weight Long Warranty Black NRCS Tanks Lifting Eyes — 24 Inch Manhole Please call for the BEST SERVICE & VALUE. Cloudcroft, NM • 1-800/603-8272 nmwatertanks.com
CAROL GUTIERREZ Home on the Range Quilting Custom and E2E Quilting
5 Mule Canyon Rd., Mayhill, NM 88339 Home: 575-687-3415 • Cell: 575-626-8546 carolcg@pvt.net
