California board lets stand Justify's win in 2018 race

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California Horse Racing Board voted to let stand a decision by stewards at Santa Anita and leave Justify as the winner of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

The seven CHRB commissioners met in a closed executive session Thursday.

Stewards at Santa Anita last month decided to dismiss complaints filed by the current racing board in the combined cases of Justify and Hoppertunity, both of whom had scopolamine detected in post-race samples following their victories. Both horses were trained by Bob Baffert.

The racing board filed the complaint as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by Mick Ruis, the owner-trainer of Bolt d’Oro, who finished second to Justify in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

The racing board considered dual requests from Ruis to either appeal that decision by the stewards or overturn it outright. The board rejected both requests.

Justify’s positive result didn’t become public until September 2019, when it was revealed in a New York Times story three months after the colt swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes to become racing's 13th Triple Crown winner. Both Justify and Hoppertunity have since been retired.

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