Trainer Richard Baltas’ petition for a court order directing the California Horse Racing Board to rescind his one-year license suspension was denied in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The suspension came after video surveillance footage showed Balta’s stable hand administering syringes containing stimulants to 23 horses on race day at Santa Anita in April and May 2022. Investigation Commissioner Corey Martinez concluded, based on his experience, that all 23 horses were injected with a foreign substance containing poison. syringe instead of rinsing the mouth with water.
After the matter became public, Los Alamitos stewards refused to allow Baltas to enter the two horses at the end of June 2022. Various interim legal challenges were unsuccessful and after a full hearing enough, management ruled in early December 2022 that Baltas was guilty of 21 violations. He was fined $10,000 and his driving license was suspended for one year from December 9, 2022.
Judge Curtis Kin’s ruling was issued on April 4. In fact, Baltas has served the suspension while the case is pending and has continued to train and race horses.
Kin’s order said that Baltas “argued that he was being prosecuted selectively…because 99% of trainers feed their horses unauthorized substances…but only the petitioner was prosecuted accusation.” Kin found that Baltas failed to demonstrate “the CHRB’s knowledge… which is necessary to demonstrate that the CHRB willfully ignored the violations of other trainers and prosecuted only the petitioner.”
