Here’s the dirt on the Bob Baffert-Medina Spirit hearing earlier this week. The goal is to determine the fate of the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission did not make a decision during Monday’s roughly three-hour teleconference with Baffert and his lawyers. As a result, it remains unclear when a final decision will be announced, reported Horse Racing Nation, among others.
Drug used in a legal application
Baffert argues that Medina Spirit’s betamethasone positive was caused not by injection but by a topical ointment used (rubbed in) to treat a skin disorder. The medication is legal in Kentucky if it is out of a horse’s system by race day.
Baffert and his lawyers have maintained that, because the corticosteroid was rubbed on the colt rather than injected, it was legal under state racing regulations. They say this makes a clear distinction between the two applications.
In a statement emailed to the media by a spokeswoman Thursday night, Brewster said, “The Kentucky rules and all other jurisdictions restrict only betamethasone acetate or sodium phosphate. These formulations are injectable solutions into a horse’s intra-articular joint. Medina Spirit was never injected with betamethasone, and the evidence presented (Monday) proved that conclusively.”
Next steps for the stewards
The hearing was closed to the public and media. The stewards must first determine how the trainer administered the medication. Then they will decide whether it matters and whether it caused Medina Spirit to gain an advantage.
The Lexington Herald reported that “if Baffert is stripped of the Derby purse and win, he is expected to appeal.”
Brewster added, in comments published in The Baltimore Sun, “The false narrative regarding this [incident last May] was sprung early and spread widely by uninformed or malevolent accusers and by careless reporting.”
Baffert trains horses who have been participating in Derby prep races (and winning). However, they have not been earning points toward entry in this year’s Kentucky Derby, which is May 7. Currently, he is ineligible to train horses entered in the Kentucky Derby. However, speculation is that some of his horses, regarded as some of the top 3-year-olds racing today, could switch barns to become eligible to run in the Kentucky Derby.
There remains plenty of time for this to play out. The Derby’s point system has upcoming races worth as much as 100 points. Winning one of those races would be good enough to crack the top 20 list. Even finishing second in those 100-point races could conceivably be enough.
Medina Spirit died in December in California; the necropsy results are pending. Medina Spirit crossed the finish line first in last year’s Run for the Roses. He failed his post-race drug test, and his subsequent disqualification awarded the race to Mandaloun.
Baffert is awaiting the results of a four-day hearing on an attempt to ban him from racing in New York. In addition, he is prohibited from racing at Churchill Downs or properties owned by the company.
