Kentucky Derby Winner Medina Spirit Fails Drug Test

The cases took months, if not years, to adjudicate and were met mostly with modest fines or brief suspensions, as Baffert asserted he did nothing wrong and blamed environmental contamination or human error for the results.

In 2019, The New York Times reported that Justify — also trained by Baffert — had failed a drug test after winning the 2018 Santa Anita Derby in Southern California. The rule at the time required that Justify be disqualified, forfeiting his prize money and preventing his entry into the Kentucky Derby a month later.

The California Horse Racing Board’s chairman at the time, Chuck Winner, had previously employed Baffert to train his horses. Justify’s failed test was investigated for four months, allowing the horse to keep competing long enough to win not only the Derby, but also the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes to become the 13th Triple Crown winner.

In August 2018, after Justify’s breeding rights had been sold for $60 million, the racing board ruled that the failed test was the result of environmental contamination and disposed of the inquiry altogether during a rare closed-door session.

If Medina Spirit is disqualified, Baffert and the colt will join Maximum Security and Dancer’s Image as the only horses to have their Derby victories overturned.

In 2019, Maximum Security was first across the finish line, only to be disqualified for almost knocking over a rival horse in the far turn and slowing the momentum of others. The next year, Maximum Security’s trainer, Jason Servis, was among more than 27 people charged by federal prosecutors in a wide-ranging scheme to secretly dope horses and cheat the betting public.

In 1968, Dancer’s Image’s victory was taken away after a drug test showed the presence of a banned anti-inflammatory.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/09/sports/horse-racing/bob-baffert-kentucky-derby-medina-spirit-drug-test.html