Legal Wrangling Will Allow Castellano To Ride In Japan

Added on Nov 09, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

Horse Racing

When we reported on the suspension to Javier Castellano handed down by the Kentucky racing stewards for his ‘careless riding’ that set off the now infamous Breeders’ Cup brawl with Calvin Borel, we indicated that he’d be appealing–primarily so he could keep a previous contracted mount at the Queen Elizabeth Commemorative Cup in Japan this Sunday. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has denied his appeal, but some legal maneuvering appears to have paved the way for him to be able to ride in Japan this weekend.

The KHRC gave no reason for turning down Castellano’s appeal, though in the past year they’ve sought to reduce the number of ‘frivolous’ appeals of suspensions. After the appeal was denied, the jockey turned to attorney Joel Turner who sought and received a legal injunction against enforcement of the suspension. Judge Phillip Shepherd in Franklin County Circuit Court in Frankfort, Kentucky agreed with Turner’s assertion that Castellano had been denied due process in this matter. The basis of this judgement is the relative severity of Castellano’s 6 day suspension–as Shepherd would point out in his ruling, only once in the past four years has a jockey been suspended for more than three days in Kentucky.

Here’s some of the relevant analysis from Shepherd’s ruling:

“The Petitioner’s injury from the Commission’s attempt to immediately impose the penalty [a six-day suspension] before the final adjudication of his administrative appeal is real, immediate, and irreparable. By virtue of reciprocity laws, the Petitioner’s ability to earn living as a jockey in other states and countries, will be immediately terminated for the days in question, if a stay of the Commission’s suspension is not issued.”

Mindy Coleman, counsel for the Jockey’s Guild, issued a press release that expanded on this point:

“As far as we know, the KHRC has never denied a jockey a stay pending due process right to an appeal. In effect, the KHRC is making Javier serve his penalty before the matter is adjudicated. Only once in the past four years has a suspension of more than three days been handed out to a jockey in Kentucky.”

“On March 17, 2010, the KHRC changed the regulation regarding appeals of rulings to include what constitutes a frivolous appeal and additional penalties for such. Since that time, the Guild has asked on numerous occasions that the KHRC consider allowing jockeys to be able to ride a designated race during a rider’s suspension, as it is done in other major racing jurisdictions. There is yet to be consideration of that request by the Rules Committee or the Racing Commission, not to mention a number of other issues we wanted to discuss with them.”

The State of Kentucky has their own legal options and could seek to have the injunction overturned. While it doesn’t seem likely they’ll press this issue and will just let Castellano serve his suspension upon his return from Japan, stranger things have happened.