Kentucky Derby champ Medina Spirit tests positive for banned substance
Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit tested positive for corticosteroid betamethasone, a banned anti-inflammatory that helps treat osteoarthritis in horses.
Medina Spirit won the 147th running of the first jewel of horse racing's famed Triple Crown last Saturday, giving Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert a record seven Kentucky Derby wins.
Baffert confirmed the results of Medina Spirit's test on Sunday, saying the horse was never treated with betamethasone.
"I got the biggest gut-punch in racing, for something I didn't do," Baffert said during a news conference Sunday at Churchill Downs, according to The Associated Press' Gary B. Graves.
"This shouldn't have happened," Baffert added. "There's a problem somewhere. It didn't come from us."
Baffert said he received word of the positive test from officials on Saturday, adding that Medina Spirit has yet to be disqualified from the race. A disqualification could still come following further tests.
Derby organizers Churchill Downs released a statement on Sunday confirming the test results and that Medina Spirit's handlers have the right to request a split test, something Baffert said he intends to do.
"To be clear, if the findings are upheld, Medina Spirit's results in the Kentucky Derby will be invalidated, and Mandaloun will be declared the winner," the statement read, according to WDRB's Eric Crawford.
Baffert is suspended in the interim and forbidden from entering horses into competition at Churchill Downs due to the "seriousness of the alleged offense," the statement added.
The involved parties will await the findings of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commissions' investigation and the results of a split test requested by Medina Spirit's representatives.
A post-race sample detected 21 picograms of the steroid betamethasone in Medina Spirit's system, which is twice the limit permitted by Kentucky horse racing regulations. It's the same substance that was found in the system of Gamine, a Baffert-trained horse that finished third in last September's Kentucky Oaks.
"I'm worried about our sport," Baffert added. "Our sport, we've taken a lot of hits as a sport. These are pretty serious accusations here, but we're going to get to the bottom of it and find out. We know we didn't do it."
"There's problems in racing," he said. "But it's not Bob Baffert."
Horses trained by Baffert have failed at least 29 drug tests spanning his four celebrated decades in the sport, according to a report by The New York Times from November 2020.
Medina Spirit is still expected to race in the Preakness Stakes, the second jewel of the Triple Crown, on Saturday in Baltimore, Maryland.