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Kentucky Derby Winner Faces Disqualification After Failing Post-Race Drug Test
By Jeff Osienya May 10, 2021 IndustryKentucky Derby 2021 champion Medina Spirit could potentially lose his title after testing positive for an excessive dose of Betamethasone. Bob Baffert, the Thoroughbred’s trainer, has been suspended from the Churchill Downs track.Medina Spirit, the American Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 2021 Kentucky Derby race, has failed a post-race drug test. As a result, Bob Baffert, the Hall of Fame trainer behind Medina’s soiled win, has received an indefinite suspension from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The shocking news was revealed on Sunday morning by Baffert himself in a press conference.
In the briefing, The Hall of Famer disclosed that his runner’s blood tested positive for nearly double the acceptable dose of an anti-inflammatory and painkiller drug known as Betamethasone. Kentucky Derby allows a threshold of up to 10 picograms of Betamethasone, yet Medina’s post-race blood test reported 21 picograms of the substance.
Baffert, however, went ahead and denied the allegations in the press briefing, saying:
Quote“I was totally shocked when I heard this news… I am the most scrutinized trainer. And I am OK with that. The last thing I want to do is something that would jeopardize the greatest sport. I’m worried about the sport. This is a pretty serious accusation. We’re going to get to the bottom of it. We know we didn’t do it. There’s problems in racing. But it’s not Bob Baffert.”
Further, Baffert said that Medina had never received a single dose of Betamethasone and added that his team would carry out its own investigations. He called the test results ‘an injustice to the horse,’ especially after Medina Spirit ‘ran a gallant race.’ Baffert and his team plan to fully cooperate with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission as the investigations continue.
Churchill Downs officials also released a statement about the matter while announcing Baffert’s suspension as follows:
Quote“Failure to comply with the rules and medication protocols jeopardizes the safety of the horses and jockeys, the integrity of our sport and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby and all who participate. Churchill Downs will not tolerate it. Given the seriousness of the alleged offense, Churchill Downs will immediately suspend Bob Baffert, the trainer of Medina Spirit, from entering any horses at Churchill Downs Racetrack.”
Medina Spirit’s Kentucky Derby Win on The Line
For now, it’s hard to say whether Medina will be stripped of his victory. However, the officials of Churchill Downs said that in case the findings are upheld by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, Medina Spirit’s win in the 2021 Kentucky Derby will be invalidated. Should that happen, the runner-up for the race, Mandaloun, will automatically be declared the victor of the race.
So, as we speak, before the conclusion of investigations, Medina’s title for Kentucky Derby still stands. But then, if the current post-race drug test is sustained, the Kentucky Derby victory isn’t the only blow that Baffert and his colt will suffer. For starters, Medina will be barred from participating in the 146th Preakness Stakes, the second round of the prestigious Triple Crown 2021, scheduled for Saturday in Maryland. Pimlico officials are holding off any action until the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission gives a final verdict.
In case Medina Spirit ends up being disqualified, it will be the first time in over 5 decades that a horse’s victory will be nullified due to a failed drug test. The last time such an annulment happened was when Dancer’s Image was stripped of his 1968 Kentucky Derby victory after Phenylbutazone, a banned anti-inflammatory, was detected in a post-race drug test. It took a four-year legal standoff before Dancer’s Image’s victory was negated in 1972.
Should nullification happen, Medina Spirit’s team will not receive the Derby purse money worth $1.86 million set aside for the race winner. Fortunately, or unfortunately for bettors, the disqualification won’t change anything. Bettors who put their money on Medina will still cash out, whereas those who had bet on Mandaloun will still walk away empty-handed.
Bob Baffert’s Shining Career is Dotted with Misdeeds
Baffert was inducted into the horseracing Hall of Fame in 2009 with 3,120 wins and over $320 million in purse payouts. In 2015, he cemented his reputation in the horseracing scene after becoming the 11th trainer in history to win the coveted Triple Crown trifecta. His American Pharaoh horse crossed the finish line first in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stake,s and the Belmont Stakes in 2015.
When Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby 2021 race on May 1st, Bob Baffert officially added a seventh win of Kentucky Derby races. Previously, he was tied with Ben Jones, each having 6 Kentucky Derby wins on their names. However, his stellar performance on the track has been faced with heavy criticism, with many competitors insisting that he is a cheat.
Well, it’s hard for anyone to ignore such suspicions, given that a recent The New York Times report indicates that his horses have failed a total of 30 drug tests in his 40-year plus career. Moreover, five of the 30 drug test fails have taken place between 2019 and now!
Incidentally, the same Betamethasone detected in Medina was also found in Gamine, another of Baffert’s runners in 2020. Germain had nabbed the third position in Kentucky Oaks still held at Churchill Downs, but the win was invalidated after failing the drug test. Baffert was slapped with a $1,500 fine.
The most recent case in Baffert’s scandal-rocked career happened just last month when he won an appeal before the Arkansas Racing Commission. The body had punished him with a 15-day suspension when two of his runners failed drug tests after winning races in Oaklawn Park on May 2nd, 2020. The two Thoroughbreds, Charlatan and Germaine (again), tested positive for a painkiller known as Lidocaine, but Baffert insisted that the exposure was unintentional.
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