Trainer: Kentucky Derby winner’s failed drug test due to dermatitis treatment
Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was treated with an antifungal ointment containing the steroid betamethasone that may have caused the horse to fail a postrace drug test, trainer Bob Baffert said on Tuesday.
In a statement issued by his lawyer, Baffert said Medina Spirit was treated for dermatitis with the ointment once a day leading up to the 1 May race and that equine pharmacology experts have told him this could explain the test results. Baffert said the horse tested positive for 21 picograms of the substance, twice the permitted limit. Betamethasone is typically given to horses therapeutically to help their joints and is a violation even at a trace amount on race day in Kentucky.
Regardless of the reason, Medina Spirit would be disqualified from the Derby and Mandaloun named the winner if a second round of testing shows the presence of betamethasone.
“My investigation is continuing, and we do not know for sure if this ointment was the cause of the test results, or if the test results are even accurate, as they have yet to be confirmed by the split sample,” Baffert said. “I have been told that a finding of a small amount, such as 21 picograms, could be consistent with application of this type of ointment.”
Baffert said at a news conference on Sunday at Churchill Downs that he did not know how the substance made its way into the colt’s system.
Medina Spirit and his stablemate Concert Tour arrived at Pimlico Race Course on Monday for this weekend’s Preakness Stakes, the second leg of US racing’s Triple Crown. Baffert does not plan to be in Baltimore for the race and has put assistant Jimmy Barnes in charge. The Preakness position draw was made on Tuesday and Medina Spirit drew the No 2 post, and is the betting favorite for the race. He will be allowed to race after Baffert agreed to prerace blood testing, monitoring and medical review for the horse.
Medina Spirit’s failed drug test is the fifth medication violation in the past 13 months for Baffert, a two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer and the face of the sport.
Winning the Preakness with either Medina Spirit or Concert Tour would give Baffert a record eighth victory in that race, breaking a tie with 19th-century trainer RW Walden. Except for 2020, when the Triple Crown races were run out of order, Baffert is undefeated with the Derby winner in the Preakness.
During an appearance on Fox News on Monday, Baffert said he was a victim of “cancel culture” after Churchill Downs said he had been banned from the track following Medina Spirit’s positive test.
“Churchill Downs came out with that statement – that was pretty harsh,” said Baffert. “With all the noise … We live in a different world now. This America is different. It was like a cancel culture kind of a thing so they’re reviewing it. I haven’t been told anything.”