Medina Spirit disqualified from Kentucky Derby win with Bob Baffert suspended
Bob Baffert has been suspended for 90 days and fined $7,500 with Medina Spirit disqualified from last year’s Kentucky Derby win after the first past the post was found to have tested positive for betamethasone, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission announced on Monday.
It confirmed that Medina Spirit, who had tested positive for corticosteroid betamethasone, which is not permitted in any amount in a horse on a raceday in Kentucky, a week after his triumph at Churchill Downs, had also tested positive for the prohibited substance in further blood tests undertaken at Industrial Laboratories, the official testing laboratory for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, and at the University of California.
Medina Spirit, who died suddenly in December during a piece of work at Santa Anita, went on to win the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes and finished second to Knicks Go in the Breeders' Cup Classic after his Kentucky Derby triumph on May 1 last year.
Baffert had claimed at the time of the success that Medina Spirit had tested positive due to treatment for a skin condition on the colt's hindquarters with the anti-fungal ointment Otomax. However, the trainer now faces a suspension between March 8 and June 5 this year.
The disqualification also means that Medina Spirit’s owners, Zedan Racing Stables, will lose the $1.86 million purse obtained for the Kentucky Derby win.
The official winner of the 147th Kentucky Derby is now Mandaloun, who was owned by Juddmonte Farms and trained by Brad Cox.
Baffert can appeal against the decision.
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