0:13
- ABC News
- June 2, 2021
Trainer suspended from Kentucky Derby for 2 years
Medina Spirit tested positive for the steroid betamethasone in a post-race test.
0:13
On May 1, Medina Spirit beat Mandaloun by a half-length to win the Derby. The victory was Baffert's seventh, making him the winningest trainer in the Derby's 147-year history.
Medina Spirit was not immediately disqualified following the positive drug test, but Churchill Downs announced that the win would be invalidated if the findings of an investigation were upheld.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/bob-baffert-file-rt-jef-210602_1622646775159_hpEmbed_3x2_384.jpg\")
Baffert described the test result as a \"complete injustice,\" saying in a press conference on May 9 that Medina Spirit had never been treated with betamethasone and that he did not know how the horse could have tested positive.
Medina Spirit was permitted to race at the Preakness Stakes on May 15 after Baffert agreed to a pre-race blood test. The horse came in third behind Little-known Rombauer and Midnight Bourbon.
On May 17, Baffert was temporarily suspended from entering horses in New York racetracks pending the investigation into Medina Spirit's failed drug test following the Kentucky Derby. The ban includes the Belmont Stakes on June 5.
Baffert’s record of testing failures \"threatens public confidence in thoroughbred racing and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby,\" Carstanjen said.
He added, \"Given these repeated failures over the last year, including the increasingly extraordinary explanations, we firmly believe that asserting our rights to impose these measures is our duty and responsibility.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/medina-spirit-kentucky-derby-file-01-gty-jef-210602_1622646721751_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Baffert had previously been suspended by the Arkansas Racing Commission for 15 days in 2020 after two of his winning horses at Oaklawn Park tested positive for the painkiller lidocaine, The Associated Press reported.
He won an appeals case last month, testifying that the horses had been exposed to the drug inadvertently.
ABC News' Henderson Hewes, Joshua Hoyos, ESPN and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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