As Bob Baffert will miss the Kentucky Derby for a third year in a row due to suspension, one of his finer horses will also miss the race.

A judge has denied a request by the owner of the Baffert-trained horse, Muth, to let him run in the first leg of the Triple Crown next month.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Mitch Perry on Thursday declined to grant a temporary injunction to Zedan Racing Stables, which had argued that the 2021 suspension of Baffert from Churchill Downs was “illegal.”

Muth won the Arkansas Derby on March 30 but is ineligible to receive the 100 points that would have put him in the Run for the Roses because of Baffert’s suspension.

Perry’s ruling noted that ZRS knew that Derby-eligible horses had to be transferred to a non-suspended trainer by Jan. 29 yet chose to remain with Baffert. The judge also wrote that Churchill Downs has a duty to ensure that rules and regulations put in place to ensure a level playing field are upheld.

In his ruling, Perry expressed concern about “innocent third parties” having to remove eligible horses from the Derby on May 4 to accommodate the horse trained by the Hall of Famer, whose suspension by Churchill Downs was extended through 2024.

Eric Andrus, a spokesman for ZRS, said an emergency appeal would be filed “as soon as possible.”

Trainer Bob Baffert during the 2022 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland Race Course on Nov. 4, 2022 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

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Baffert was suspended from Churchill Downs for two years after a positive drug test on Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The horse was stripped of its victory, and to make the controversy even worse, it died that December from a heart attack after a workout in Santa Anita. The California courts had a serious face-lift in safety protocols after 30 horses died at the track in 2019.

Churchill Downs Inc. then extended the suspension through 2024, citing “continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing he poses to CDI-owned racetracks.” The track also briefly paused racing last year after a dozen horses died at the course in nearly a one-month span, including seven during the week, and even hours leading up to last year’s Derby. The New York Racing Association, which operates the Belmont Stakes, also placed a two-year ban on him in 2021, and he was also disallowed from the 2022 Preakness Stakes.

Baffert returned to the Triple Crown trail last May after having missed the previous five races (his last had been the 2021 Preakness). Naturally, one of his horses, National Treasure, won the race, but on the Stakes’ undercard, another one of his horses, Havnameltdown, had to be euthanized following a “non-operable” injury.

Bob Baffert-trained Havnameltdown is taken off the track after being euthanized during the sixth race ahead of the 148th Running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on May 20, 2023 in Baltimore. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Baffert has 17 victories in Triple Crown races, not including Medina Spirit’s stripped title.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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On Thursday, National Hockey League owners approved the relocation of the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City. The team will be playing in Salt Lake City next season. Done deal.

In November, Major League Baseball owners approved the relocation of the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas. The team plans to play in Sacramento for the next three years, with the intention of moving into a new ballpark in Las Vegas in 2028. Done deal?

The A’s themselves might be growing a wee bit concerned, based on a court filing this week.

Quick rewind: The Nevada Legislature last June approved $380 million in public funding toward the new ballpark. The governor promptly signed the bill, which leaves the A’s and owner John Fisher responsible for the balance of the estimated $1.5-billion construction cost.

A Nevada teachers’ union announced two challenges to the public funding, pursuing a referendum that would let voters decide and filing a lawsuit alleging the bill was unconstitutional.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said last October that “an adverse development with respect to that referendum … would be a significant development.”

The pitch to voters could be attractive: Do you want to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars to an out-of-state billionaire? In an Emerson College poll of likely Las Vegas voters released this month, 52% opposed public funding for the ballpark and 32% favored it, with 17% unsure.

However, the referendum becomes a little more of a long shot with each passing day. The A’s and their allies have objected to the proposed language of the referendum petition, and the matter remains unresolved after seven months in the Nevada courts.

The union cannot start gathering signatures until the matter is resolved — and would need to collect more than 100,000 signatures by June 26 in order for the referendum to appear on the November ballot.

The lawsuit was filed in February, alleging the public funding violated the state Constitution in as many as five different ways and naming the state of Nevada, the governor and the state treasurer as defendants. Nothing of substance has happened in that case since then.

With the referendum, the clock could run out on the union. With the lawsuit, the clock could run out on the A’s.

So, this week, the A’s asked the court to let them intervene in the lawsuit.

The A’s do not claim to be expert defenders of the Nevada Constitution, but they would like their money in a timely manner. That money could be reduced or eliminated if the court were to rule against the state. That money also could be put on hold should the court grant an injunction until the case is decided.

“The Athletics … will be affected if SB 1 is found unconstitutional,” the court filing reads. “Without intervention, the Athletics’ ability to protect its (sic) interests will be impaired.”

Under SB 1, the bill that authorized the public funding, that authorization could expire if the A’s have not executed a development agreement and lease agreement within 18 months of MLB relocation approval — that is, within 13 months from now.

“Failing to meet the timelines for the agreements … risks triggering the termination provisions” of the bill,” A’s president Dave Kaval wrote in a court declaration. “Each year of delay will cost the Athletics millions of dollars.”

As The Times first reported in November, and as Fisher himself confirmed as recently as last month, he is seeking to sell a share of ownership to outside investors for $500 million. He would then use the proceeds to help pay for the new Las Vegas ballpark. Uncertainty around the public funding could spook potential investors.

I emailed each of the three lawyers who signed the A’s filing to ask whether the team was saying the costs to move to Las Vegas could go up by as much as $380 million but the team would still make the move, or whether the team was saying the additional financial burden could be so prohibitive that it may not move to Las Vegas at all. None of the lawyers responded to the emails.

Could be neither. Could be nothing more than the A’s looking out for their interests, rather than entrusting that to a third party. The proposed ballpark site currently is occupied by the now-shuttered Tropicana hotel, with demolition targeted for October. But, as they say, nothing is official until the shovels hit the ground.

MLB announced veteran reliever Aroldis Chapman has been suspended two games after his heated argument with a home plate umpire who ejected him. 

“Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Aroldis Chapman has received a two-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for his inappropriate actions in the bottom of the eighth inning of Monday night’s game against the New York Mets at Citi Field,” Michael Hill, MLB senior vice president for on-field operations, said in a statement. 

“Unless appealed, the suspension of Chapman is scheduled to begin on Friday, when the Pirates are to host the Boston Red Sox at PNC Park. If Chapman elects to file an appeal, then the discipline will be held in abeyance until that process is complete.”

Chapman’s Pittsburgh Pirates were playing the New York Mets when he was pitching in the bottom of the eighth inning at Citi Field. Mets outfielder Harrison Bader hit a double that gave the Mets a lead, and it stood as the game-winning hit. 

Chapman clearly didn’t like how home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso was calling balls and strikes, and he said something to Moscoso when he went to get a baseball from his catcher. 

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Moscoso waited a few seconds before tossing Chapman from the game, and that’s when things got more heated. 

Chapman got in Moscoso’s face, and the two went back and forth before the southpaw eventually retreated to the dugout to accept his fate. 

It’s unclear whether Chapman plans to appeal his suspension. 

Chapman, 36, is in his first season with the Pirates, who signed him to a one-year pact worth $10.5 million in free agency. The man whose fastball can reach triple digits on the radar gun is playing for his fourth team in three seasons. 

Aroldis Chapman of the Pittsburgh Pirates walks to the mound during the eighth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park April 4, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images)

Last season, Chapman ended up with the Texas Rangers after playing earlier in the season with the Kansas City Royals. The Rangers won the World Series over the Arizona Diamondbacks, giving Chapman his second World Series ring. 

Chapman has a 4.76 ERA in nine appearances for the Pirates this season. 

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