From the Paulick Report:
https://paulickreport.com/news/the-biz/connections-sue-jockey-luan-machado-for-easing-up-on-mount-in-churchill-downs-race

Connections Sue Jockey Luan Machado For Easing Up On Mount In Churchill Downs Race
Breeder, owner of Hold My Bourbon allege rider breached contract, demonstrated professional negligence in defeat
Ray PaulickFeb 27, 2025
The Biz
Kentucky
Luan Machado
Lawsuit
Jockeys
Horse Racing
Jockey Luan Machado may have thought it was bad enough he was fined $1,000 and suspended four racing days after stewards ruled he had eased up on his mount before the finish of a race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., last Nov. 28. Now, the native of Brazil has to defend himself in a lawsuit filed by the owner and breeder of the horse he rode to a second-place finish that day.

A complaint filed in Jefferson Circuit Court by Gray V Train Racing and Westbrook Stables, the respective owner and breeder of Hold My Bourbon, alleges Machado breached his contract and showed negligence as a licensed professional jockey by failing to ride Hold My Bourbon to the finish line "with full effort" in the Nov. 28 allowance race. The then 3-year-old son of Anchor Down finished second to Lightline, beaten a neck, after holding a 2 1/2-length advantage with a furlong remaining in the one-mile race on the Churchill Downs main track. Machado appeared to ease up on his mount approaching the finish and patted Hold My Bourbon on the neck just before reaching the wire.

A Nov. 30 stewards ruling sanctioned Machado "for easing up on his mount approaching the finish without adequate cause (2nd offense)." The veteran rider received a three-day suspension and $2,500 fine one month earlier after standing up at the sixteenth pole aboard Ultimate Strike at Keeneland, blowing a 5 1/2-length lead with an eighth of a mile to go and finishing second. Stewards called that incident an "error in judgment." Keeneland uses two finish lines for its dirt races around two turns; one at the sixteenth pole for 1 1/16-mile races and the regular finish line for 1 1/8-mile races. Ultimate Strike's race was 1 1/8 miles.

The plaintiffs (Angela Lewis is the registered agent for Gray V Train Racing and Todd and Angela Lewis are the registered agents for Westbrook Stables, both based in Versailles, Ky.) say Machado's actions cost them $47,560 in lost purse money and $3,000 in Kentucky Thoroughbred Breeders Incentive Funds. The race offered a purse of $130,644, with $72,960 to the winner and $25,400 to the second-place finisher. They also allege they have suffered unliquidated damages and other "consequential damages," suggesting that "the value of (Hold My Bourbon) and the value of Westbrook's business would have increased had HMB won the race."

"Mr. Machado, as a licensed professional jockey, had a contractual obligation to his employer, Gray V Train, to perform his duties in accordance with professional racing standards and to use reasonable diligence in his efforts," the Feb. 19 complaint states.

"By failing to ride HMB to the finish line with full effort, Mr. Machado breached his contractual duty, causing plaintiffs to suffer substantial financial loss."

In alleging "professional negligence," the plaintiffs say Machado "failed to perform according to the expectations of his profession" and that the ruling by stewards "establishes that his conduct was improper." The complaint adds that "Mr. Machado has admitted to the plaintiffs that he was negligent in pulling up early in the race without cause."

The plaintiffs, represented by attorney Andre Regard, are seeking a trial by jury.

Machado has 20 days to respond to the legal complaint, which only tells one side of the story.