On Wednesday, one of controversial racehorse trainer Bob Baffert’s most prominent clients, Amr Zedan, filed a lawsuit in Kentucky Circuit Court that would potentially clear the way for Arkansas Derby winner Muth and other Baffert trainees to participate in the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

Zedan was the owner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby champ, Medina Spirit, who was stripped of his title by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in February of 2022 after testing positive for a banned substance.

That substance was administered by Baffert’s barn, and the trainer was suspended for two years as a result. His suspension was extended through 2024 this past July, not long after he said in a television interview that he “probably wouldn’t have done anything different because everything that we were doing was legal.”

In the run-up to the first two Derbies for which he was suspended, Baffert dutifully transferred his Derby contenders to other trainers before a required deadline so they could be eligible to run at Churchill.

But he notoriously declined to do so this year, prompting longtime turf writer John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times to write, “Various media outlets have already dubbed this year’s Kentucky Derby, the 150th, as either 149½ or having an asterisk because all the best horses will not be running because of the ban of the Baffert horses.”

Then again, as FanDuel TV analyst Christina Blacker told US Bets days before Muth’s Arkansas Derby win, “I think whoever lines up in the Derby, the Derby is the Derby. You get so many casual fans. They’re gonna bet no matter what, and it’s gonna be one of the biggest days of handle for the year.”

But being a hardcore horse-head herself, she can see two sides.

“I’m all for what the Derby stands for in terms of integrity, but it also stands for the best of the best lining up,” Blacker added. “And I hope, at some point, we can all come to an agreement and it can be about the best horses lining up again.”

‘A crazed vendetta’

According to The Daily Racing Form, Zedan’s lawsuit seeks an injunction that would “prevent Churchill Downs Inc. and its agents, representatives, and any other person in active concert or participation with it from denying horses trained by Bob Baffert or denying Bob Baffert himself stall occupancy at or entry into racetracks owned or races held by CDI, including the 2024 Kentucky Derby.”

Judge Jennifer Bryant Wilcox has scheduled a hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction for Monday.

Among various arguments for invalidating Baffert’s suspension, Zedan’s lawsuit claims that individual racetracks “no longer have authority over horse racing integrity and safety issues” since that is now the jurisdiction of the recently created Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), which is a federal entity.

“CDI’s spurious, illegal extension of the suspension does not withstand scrutiny and imperils a host of interested stakeholders,” the lawsuit alleges. “HISA is being disregarded right out of the gate. Fans and bettors are losing the chance to see the best, fastest Thoroughbreds compete at the Derby.”

Additionally, Zedan’s lawsuit accuses CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen, of “pursuing a crazed vendetta at the expense of letting fair, healthy competition run its course.”

While Baffert is not named as a party to the lawsuit, he told the Times, “While I am not a plaintiff in the lawsuit recently brought by Zedan Racing Stables against Churchill Downs, I would like nothing more than for the horses I train to have an opportunity to run at Churchill Downs.”

As it stands, Baffert’s horses are still eligible to race in the Triple Crown’s other two jewels, the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

Photo: Tim Sloan/AFP via Getty Images.