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Trainer Bob Baffert at Churchill Downs with Medina Spirit the day after the Kentucky Derby

Trainer Bob Baffert at Churchill Downs with Medina Spirit the day after the Kentucky Derby

Anne M. Eberhardt

Medina Spirit Tests Positive for Betamethasone

Bob Baffert announced the Kentucky Derby (G1) winner's positive May 9.

Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner Medina Spirit  has tested positive for the corticosteroid betamethasone and faces possible disqualification from the May 1 race at Churchill Downs, Bob Baffert announced May 9.

The Hall of Fame trainer traveled from California to work Medina Spirit and Concert Tour  for the May 15 Preakness Stakes (G1) and held a press conference at Churchill accompanied by his attorney, W. Craig Robertson III. 

Baffert said Medina Spirit tested positive for 21 picograms of betamethasone—information that was relayed to him Friday by his assistant, Jimmy Barnes, who was served by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. 

Betamethasone is a Class C drug that is allowed in Kentucky as a therapeutic. However, state rules require at least a 14-day withdrawal time and any level of detection on race day is a violation. The threshold was changed to zero from 10 picograms in August.

A split sample test will be requested by Baffert, who said he also independently arranged for DNA testing and hair follicle testing of Medina Spirit to confirm the positive test was not from a different horse. If the split sample confirms the original positive, a hearing will be held.

"I'm going to fight it tooth and nail because I owe it to the horse, I owe it to the owner, and I owe it to our industry," Baffert said. "All I can tell you is that betamethasone even though it is an allowed drug, a therapeutic medication, we did not give it. ... In fact, Medina Spirit has never been treated with betamethasone.

"Yesterday I got the biggest gut punch in racing for something that I didn't do. It's disturbing. It's an injustice to the horse. … I don't know what's going on in racing right now, but there's something not right. I don't feel embarrassed, I feel like I was wronged.

"(Medina Spirit is) a great horse, he doesn't deserve this, he ran a gallant race."

Medina Spirit came into the Kentucky Derby off a runner-up finish in the RUNHAPPY Santa Anita Derby (G1), and was sent off at 12-1 odds beneath the Twin Spires. He led the field under Hall of Famer John Velazquez, and held off Juddmonte's Mandaloun  by half a length to win his first grade 1. Earlier in his career, he took the Jan. 30 Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park.

Baffert's multiple grade 1 winner Gamine  also tested positive for betamethasone in Kentucky last year, following her third-place finish in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). An attorney for Baffert said the filly received betamethasone 18 days before the Oaks. She was disqualified and placed last, and Baffert was levied a $1,500 fine.

Gamine was among several post-race drug positives for Baffert trainees in 2020, which the trainer believes were caused by contamination. Along with Charlatan, who won a division of the Arkansas Derby (G1), she tested positive for lidocaine after running May 2, 2020, in an allowance-level event at Oaklawn Park. Baffert was suspended for 15 days and both horses were disqualified, but the Arkansas Racing Commission rescinded that decision, upholding the rulings but modifying the penalties. Baffert was fined $5,000. 

At Del Mar, Merneith tested positive for dextrorphan after she ran second in an allowance-level event July 25. Baffert was fined $2,500. 

Last year there were also multiple hearings into the positive post-race tests for scopolamine of Justify    and Hoppertunity   . The board of stewards at Santa Anita Park ultimately dismissed two California Horse Racing Board complaints against those contenders in December of 2020.

ANGST: Stewards Dismiss Justify, Hoppertunity Complaints

In November, Baffert announced plans to increase scrutiny and security measures around his barns. 

"Given what has transpired this year, I intend to do everything possible to ensure I receive no further medication complaints," he said in the release.

At that time, Baffert announced the retention of Dr. Michael Hore of Hagyard Equine Medical Institute "to add an additional layer of protection to ensure the well-being of horses in my care and rule compliance."

He also said, "I am increasing the training and awareness of all my employees when it comes to proper protocols. I am personally increasing my oversight and commitment to running a tight ship and being careful that protective measures are in place." 

The only prior Kentucky Derby winner to test positive after the race was Dancer's Image, who in 1968 tested positive for the painkiller phenylbutazone. He was ultimately disqualified, and until 2019 was the only Kentucky Derby winner in history to have been stripped of his title. That changed when Maximum Security    was taken down for interference in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, making Country House    the elevated winner.

This story will be updated.