As deadline looms, owner files appeal for Baffert-trained Muth's Inclusion in Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Thoroughbred owner Amr Zedan, whose colt Muth won the Arkansas Derby and would've qualified for the Kentucky Derby in any year when his trainer, Bob Baffert, wasn't suspended from Churchill Downs, is appealing a Jefferson Circuit Court decision to deny a temporary injunction that would allow Muth into the field.

Zedan moved quickly Friday to petition the Kentucky Court of Appeals to reverse the decision of judge Mitch Perry.

He is making the appeal, according to the brief, "on an emergency basis for the sake of preventing impending irreparable harm not only to Zedan but also to everyone who wants to see the fastest thoroughbreds competing at the upcoming Derby, fair and square."

In its Thursday opinion, the court ruled that the public interest is best served when those watching the Derby can be confident of the integrity of the sport. Churchill Downs suspended Baffert for two years after his 2021 Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, tested positive for a raceday banned substance after the race and later was disqualified. When Baffert's original suspension was up, the track extended it because it said Baffert had taken no responsibility for the incident and it could not trust him to be vigilant in preventing further issues.

According to the appeal filed Friday, "Zedan wholeheartedly shares those sentiments, which well capture why Zedan is pursuing this appeal and why an injunction would serve the public interest. By excluding a horse based on a trainer's public 'narrative' rather than actual qualifications, compliance, and merit, CDI is betraying its principles, upending fairness, skewing the Derby, and casting a cloud over the ultimate 'winner,' which would now be a mere artifact of CDI's petty caprice. No one should want to see the Derby unfold this way."

The appeal also says, "The Jefferson Circuit Court expressed concern with purported unfairness that other horses will not be able to race if Muth qualifies. But such harm is a phantom — there is no evidence that any competitor will suffer. Absent the unlawful ban, Muth would be waltzing into the Derby as the winner of the Arkansas Derby and no one would think twice about that."

The appeal is asking for a ruling allowing Muth to run in the May 4 Kentucky Derby, or at the very least to be stabled at Churchill Downs no later than 11 a.m. on April 27, while a decision is made. Practically speaking, a decision will need to come by that date, with Derby entries to be drawn that evening.

Churchill Downs has defended its right to suspend Baffert, a position upheld by the courts to this point.

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