Kentucky Derby winner's trainer bemoans 'cancel culture' after horse fails drug test

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said "cancel culture" is punishing Kentucky Derby champion Medina Spirit after the horse tested positive for a steroid post-race.

Churchill Downs suspended Baffert while it investigates the test result. Medina Spirit is registered to run in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, though the racetrack has delayed the unveiling of its draw - perhaps to weigh whether Baffert's top colt should participate.

"I haven't heard anything officially. They haven't told me anything," Baffert said on Fox News. "When Churchill Downs came out with the statement, that was pretty harsh. I think they had to just - with all the noise going on, we live in a different world now. This America's different. It was like a cancel culture kind of a thing, so they're reviewing it. I haven't been told anything. We're prepared to run."

The probe into Medina Spirit's positive test could take months to complete. If the Kentucky Derby disqualifies Medina Spirit, Mandaloun will be declared the victor.

Baffert-trained horses have a history of failed drug tests, with 30 such cases to his name over his four-decade career. Medina Spirit had 21 picograms of betamethasone in his system after the Kentucky Derby, which is over twice the legal limit in the state.

The 68-year-old Baffert denied injecting any banned substance into Medina Spirit and suggested the steroid could have entered the horse's system in any number of ways.

"They shouldn't have called it a positive," he said. "We live in a new world now; these horses don't live in a bubble. They're in an open farm, people are touching them - after the Derby, everybody's up there touching him. I mean, there are so many ways these horses could get contaminated, and when they're testing at these ridiculously low levels - and I've been saying it for over a year now - this is gonna get innocent people in trouble, and this is what's happened now."

Baffert was involved in a similar controversy in 2018 when Triple Crown winner Justify tested positive for scopolamine following the Santa Anita Derby. The case was ultimately dismissed, as regulators believed the positive test likely came from feed contamination.

"Racing has a (drug) problem, but Bob Baffert's not the problem," Baffert said.