The owners of Funny Cide, along with the jockey who rode the thoroughbred to victory in the 2003 Kentucky Derby, have filed a defamation suit against the Miami Herald for its May 2003 article suggesting that the jockey held an illegal object in his hand during the race.
The article, which was based on a photo of jockey Jose Santos riding the horse, created a cloud of controversy around Funny Cide's Derby victory. But an investigation by the Kentucky Racing Commission and Churchill Downs stewards found that Santos had nothing in his hand but his whip.
The Herald published a correction in November 2003, two weeks after Santos' attorneys asked for one and after the original story had circulated around the world.
The horse's owners, Sackatoga Stables and Funny Cide Ventures, and Santos, a Hollywood, Fla., resident, filed the defamation and injurious falsehood complaint against the Herald and its parent company, San Jose, Calif.-based Knight Ridder, in Broward Circuit Court on May 9. The suit, pending before Judge Leroy H. Moe, alleges that the Herald engaged in "reckless disregard" for the truth and failed to retract the allegations in a timely manner.
Details here from the Daily Business Review via Law.com.