PETA Statement: Hearing on Justify’s Disqualification in Santa Anita Derby

For Immediate Release:
August 27, 2020

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the California Horse Racing Board’s announcement today that it will seek the disqualification of Triple Crown Winner Justify, trained by Bob Baffert, as the winner of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby because of the presence of a banned substance in his system:

PETA’s message for bettors who put money to win, place, or show on Bolt d’Oro, Core Beliefs, and Instilled Regard or as part of an exotic bet in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby: You may have grounds for a lawsuit against trainer Bob Baffert. Bettor Jeffrey Tretter just settled a PETA-backed lawsuit for $20,000—three times what he would have won—against a trainer who doped a winning horse with a banned substance, but the amount you could win or settle for is far higher. Doping horses is race fixing and violates fraud and racketeering laws, and after the horses who often pay with their lives, the bettors are the real victims.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.