Medina Spirit, embattled Derby winner, dies in workout
Medina Spirit, the racehorse whose victory in the Kentucky Derby had been called into question by a failed post-race drug test, died Monday after a timed workout.
The colt suffered an apparent heart attack after working five furlongs at the Santa Anita Park racetrack in Southern California, said Dr. Jeff Blea, the equine medical director for the California Horse Racing Board.
“Near the end of his breeze this morning, he did not feel right and his rider tried to pull him up,” Blea said. “He went down. Our vet on the scene got there immediately, and he was already expired.”
Blea said a necropsy would determine more details about the death and a final report would be made public.
The colt’s trainer, Bob Baffert, said he was devastated by the death.
“Medina Spirit was a great champion, a member of our family who was loved by all, and we are deeply mourning his loss,” Baffert said in a statement released by his lawyer, W. Craig Robertson III. “I will always cherish the proud and personal memories of Medina Spirit and his tremendous spirit.”
Medina Spirit’s owner, Amr Zedan of Saudi Arabia, was not immediately available for comment. Zedan’s lawyer, Clark Brewster, said he had spoken with both his client and Baffert on Monday morning. Both said Medina Spirit was training well after an impressive second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November and was preparing for another race in the coming weeks, Brewster said.
“They are wracked with grief. It’s truly tragic,” Brewster said. “He was training great and moving easily, and then Bob said when he finished up he just collapsed.”
The death of Medina Spirit does not resolve whether his Derby victory will stand. Baffert’s lawyers have challenged the test in the federal courts, and the Kentucky Horse Racing
Commission has yet to conduct a hearing. At stake for Zedan is the Derby’s $1.8 million first-place check, which would be awarded to the owners of Mandaloun, the second place finisher, if Medina Spirit’s victory is invalidated. The victory was also a record seventh in the Derby for Baffert.
At 12-1 odds, Medina Spirit was a surprising winner of the Derby, America’s most famous race, in May. The colt was sold as a yearling for only $1,000 and was a bargain for Zedan, who paid just $35,000 for him.
A week after winning the Derby, however, Baffert announced that a post-race test found the drug betamethasone, a corticosteroid injected into joints to reduce pain and swelling, in Medina Spirit. At the time, Baffert strongly denied that he or anyone else on his team had administered the drug to the horse.
He gave a series of TV and radio interviews in the following days offering various theories about how the colt had tested positive. He criticized Churchill Downs’ suspension of him as “harsh” and cited “cancel culture” for the controversy.
Baffert, however, soon reversed himself. He said that Medina Spirit had a rash on his hind end, and that an ointment used daily to treat the dermatitis contained the substance.
Last month, the 14-member board of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships allowed Baffert’s horses to compete after undergoing more testing and surveillance than those entered by his rivals.
Medina Spirit finished second to Knicks Go in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in what was the final race of a career where the colt won five of 10 starts for earnings of more than $3.5 million.