Medina Spirit owner back after a year of turmoil

Few would blame Amr Zedan if he gave up on horse racing. One day he’s the winning owner of the Kentucky Derby. A week later he’s facing the disqualification of his horse. Seven months later his horse dies. And, amid all this, his trainer is banned for two years from Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby.

But yet, he is back at Churchill Downs with a different trainer and a horse named Taiba, who is drawing some buzz if for no other reason than having raced only two times. It’s also a horse his new trainer and racing manager didn’t want to run in the Santa Anita Derby.

“I walk in with no ill feelings toward Churchill about anything,” Zedan said from his home in Jordan before his scheduled arrival in Louisville on Thursday night. “Horses are a major part of my nature and my modus operandi is to fly at a higher altitude. Let the chips fall where they may. Focus and keep walking.”

That’s not to say there isn’t residual emotions after Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby only to be disqualified nine months later for a medication violation of a legal anti-inflammatory that trainer Bob Baffert and his attorneys are still litigating.

“To win was phenomenal,” said Zedan, a Saudi venture capitalist who was born in Los Angeles. “The kid had a heart that was bigger than his pedigree and his size. It was the highest of highs and then the lowest of lows. We didn’t do anything wrong, the whole team did nothing wrong. There is a lot of jealousy over Bob’s success. There are those who look for any minor detail against Bob. They took down the horse and Bob at the same time.”

Then things went from bad to unthinkable.

While completing a fivefurlong work at Santa Anita on Dec. 6, Medina Spirit collapsed and died on the track. A necropsy gave no definitive cause of death, which is not unusual, but everything was consistent with a heart attack.

“Instead of everyone consoling me, I was having to do all the consoling,” Zedan said. “[Racing manager] Gary Young was shattered, Bob was destroyed. The whole team was devastated. I thought my role was to console everyone else.”

It’s never easy to recover from any death, but new found success certainly can mitigate matters.

In strode Country Grammer, whose path to stardom was also a bit rocky.

He was bought by WinStar Farm in a dispersal sale and moved to Baffert’s barn. He ran second in the California Stakes and then won the Hollywood Gold Cup. Zedan then joined the ownership group.

The horse was sent to New York but injured his ankle and was off the track for eight months before running a strong second in the $20 million Saudi Cup. One month later he won the $12 million Dubai World Cup.

“Bob did a hell of a training job, which is easily demonstrated by how he got Country Grammer off the bench [and ran so well in Saudi Arabia and Dubai],” Zedan said. “He was a resurrection of Medina Spirit, he had that heart. None of this would have happened if the team didn’t stick together. Horses do bring people together.”