Bob Baffert, the embattled trainer, has filed a lawsuit against the New York Racing Association seeking the lifting of a ban the racetrack operator placed on him in mid-May, after his Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit tested positive for a regulated medication. The suit, filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, contends that NYRA has violated Baffert’s due-process protections with the ban, which was issued on May 17. The ban prohibits Baffert from entering horses in any races at the three tracks operated by NYRA – Belmont, Saratoga, and Aqueduct – and prevents him from “occupying stall space” at the tracks. NYRA implemented the ban shortly after Churchill Downs had temporarily barred the trainer. The Churchill decision was extended to two years early in June. Unlike Churchill Downs, NYRA operates the three New York racetracks under a franchise granted by the state, and its relationship with the state complicates the legal foundations of its decisions to bar licensees. Churchill Downs is a publicly traded company, and its legal right to bar individuals is firmly established in case law. The lawsuit references NYRA’s franchise with the state in making a case that NYRA has overstepped its “legal authority” by issuing the ban, which NYRA has described as “temporary.” “NYRA does not have the legal authority to suspended Baffert – that rests solely with the [New York] Gaming Commission as the entity that issued his occupational license – a license that affords Baffert a property interest under state law sufficient to invoke due-process protections,” the lawsuit states. “Despite this fact, by purporting to summarily and indefinitely suspend Baffert from all NYRA tracks, NYRA has essentially barred Baffert from exercising his professional and state-issued license anywhere in the state of New York.” The suit seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction against the ban, along with a “declaration” from the court that NYRA is prohibited from barring Baffert from its races. Craig Robertson, the attorney who filed the suit, declined to comment on Monday. In a prepared statement, NYRA spokesman Patrick McKenna said that NYRA will “vigorously defend the action it has taken in this matter.” “NYRA took this action to protect the integrity of the sport for our fans, the betting public, and racing participants,” McKenna said. Last week, the New York Gaming Commission revoked the license of Linda Rice, a leading trainer at NYRA tracks, for “conduct detrimental to racing” based on a hearing officer’s report that she received confidential information on racing entries at NYRA tracks. Rice received a stay of the revocation order from a New York judge two days later, and so far, NYRA has not taken any steps to ban the trainer. The Medina Spirit positive has not yet been adjudicated by Kentucky regulators, and no hearing has been scheduled into the bad test. Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone, a regulated anti-inflammatory medication. Baffert and his attorney have said that they believe the drug was introduced into the colt’s system through the use of a skin ointment to treat dermatitis.