Medina Spirit | Horse Racing Free Tips

Churchill Suspends Baffert For Two Years After Medina Spirit’s Split is Positive

According to Craig Robertson, the lawyer representing Bob Baffert, a second-post race test has confirmed that Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive for the prohibited corticosteroid betamethasone, which could lead to the horse being disqualified from this year's GI Kentucky Derby. In response, Churchill Downs Inc. banned Baffert for two years.

“In response to the inquiries, this will acknowledge that the Medina Spirit split sample confirmed the finding of betamethasone at 25 picograms,” Robertson said in a statement. “There is other testing that is being conducted, including DNA testing. We expect this additional testing to confirm that the presence of the betamethasone was from the topical ointment, Otomax, and not an injection. At the end of the day, we anticipate this case to be about the treatment of Medina Spirit's skin rash with Otomax. We will have nothing further to say until the additional testing is complete.”

As of the deadline for this story, the Kentucky Racing Commission had yet to make any statements regarding Medina Spirit and the Betamethasone positive and neither had it confirmed that Medina Spirit has failed any drug tests. However, Churchill Downs took action of its own Wednesday, suspending the trainer until the conclusion of the spring meet in 2023. If Baffert cannot compete in the 2022 and 2023 Kentucky Derby many prominent owners may choose to give their horses to other trainers.

Churchill issued a statement Wednesday, which read, in part: “The suspension prohibits Baffert, or any trainer directly or indirectly employed by Bob Baffert Racing Stables, from entering horses in races or applying for stall occupancy at all CDI-owned racetracks. This decision follows the confirmation by attorneys representing Bob Baffert of the presence of betamethasone, a prohibited race-day substance, in Medina Spirit's bloodstream on the day of the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby in violation of the Commonwealth of Kentucky's equine medication protocols and CDI's terms and conditions for racing.”

Churchill Downs CEO Bill Carstanjen made it clear that the company has no tolerance for anybody whose action might compromise the integrity of the sport.

“CDI has consistently advocated for strict medication regulations so that we can confidently ensure that horses are fit to race and the races are conducted fairly,” Carstanjen said. “Reckless practices and substance violations that jeopardize the safety of our equine and human athletes or compromise the integrity of our sport are not acceptable and as a company we must take measures to demonstrate that they will not be tolerated. Mr. Baffert's record of testing failures threatens public confidence in thoroughbred racing and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby. 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.”

CDI said that it was reserving the right to extend Baffert's suspension if there are additional violations in any racing jurisdiction.

NYRA suspended Baffert for an undetermined period starting May 17 and they announced that the ban would stay in place until further notice.

“On May 17, the New York Racing Association, Inc. announced the temporary suspension of Bob Baffert from entering horses in races and occupying stall space at Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course and Aqueduct Racetrack,” NYRA spokesman Pat McKenna said. “That suspension remains in effect and NYRA will make a determination regarding the length and terms of Mr. Baffert's suspension at the appropriate time and based on information generated by the ongoing investigation in Kentucky.”

After the news broke that the horse had tested positive following the Derby, trainer Bob Baffert and owner Amr Zedan requested that a second sample be sent to a laboratory, hoping that it would not show any traces of the prohibited medication.

If Medina Spirit is disqualified, the official winner of the Derby will be Mandaloun (Into Mischief). In 1968, Dancer's Image was disqualified from the Kentucky Derby after tests revealed the presence of phenylbutazone in his system and Forward Pass was declared the winner.

Once the racing commission makes it official that Medina Spirit has failed both tests, a hearing will be held before Churchill Downs stewards. If they decide that Medina Spirit must be disqualified then the Baffert team will have the option of appealing the case to the Kentucky Racing Commission. Should it decide to uphold the disqualification and penalties given to Baffert by the stewards, the next move from the Baffert team would likely be to appeal to the courts and to seek a stay pending the outcome of the case.

It took four years for the Dancer's Image case to work its way through the court system. He was not officially disqualified until 1972.

Baffert did not respond to a text from the TDN. When reached by phone, Zedan said he had no comment and referred questions to his attorney, Clark Brewster.

Brewster said he was confident that the original results of the Kentucky Derby would hold up and that Baffert would be exonerated. Baffert has said that Medina Spirit was treated with Otomax, an ointment that contains betamethasone and is used to treat dermatitis. For that reason, Brewster will make the case that the drug positive was nothing more than a case of inadvertent contamination. He said that the Medina Spirit team will request additional tests in an effort to prove that Medina Spirit was in fact treated with Otomax, which would indicate, he said, that the horse was not injected with the medication and that there were no attempts to use the medication as a performance-enhancer.

“Bob Baffert wins the Derby and within days is pilloried. People are on social media saying he is a cheat,” Brewster said. “The upshot of this is that they all believe this was an injectable into the joint and he's trying to get a horse in that might have some joint issues or pain. That's nonsense. If it can be proven that it simply was salve for eczema and used on a portion of his hip, which I think we can document…And it's not just Bob saying that, it would be proven scientifically. Reasonable people with some of facts will reach the same conclusion. The Horse Racing Integrity act? I love it. Let's make the rules uniform for everybody. But if you reject the science and use Draconian decision making, then it's bad for everybody. It's like rejecting climate change. When you are at a picogram level you have to use common sense and when you show the method of how it got into the horses's system, that is relevant and important for any decision making. I am very confident that reasonable people with the same facts will reach a reasonable conclusion, which means victory for Bob.”

PETA issued a statement Tuesday in which it called for Baffert to be permanently banned from the sport.

“Bettors who've been cheated by putting money down on the rigged Kentucky Derby may contact PETA or attorneys who are filing class-action lawsuits, but the other victim here is Medina Spirit,” said PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “He should be thoroughly examined by independent veterinarians to find out why he was administered a powerful medication and whether it was through injections to his joints rather than with a topical cream. The racing industry must at last stop buying Baffert's nonsensical excuses and kick him out for good.”

The Animal Wellness Action called for Churchill Downs to permanently ban Baffert from participating in the Derby.

Though the Kentucky Racing Commission has yet to take any official action against Baffert, he has been banned indefinitely by Churchill Downs and the New York Racing Association. The Stronach Group, which operates Santa Anita, Baffert's home track, has not taken any action against him, but may have been waiting for the split sample to come back. Should he be suspended by the Kentucky Racing Commission, all other state racing commissions will have to honor that suspension.

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Split Sample Confirms Betamethasone Positive In Kentucky Derby Winner Medina Spirit

The New York Times reported Wednesday morning that a split sample from Bob Baffert-trained Medina Spirit, who crossed the wire first in this year's Kentucky Derby, has confirmed the presence of betamethasone. A statement from Baffert's lawyer, attorney Craig Robertson, said the confirmed concentration was 25 pg/ml.

One week after this year's Derby, Baffert told media that he had been informed initial testing on post-race samples from Medina Spirit had detected the corticosteroid, which is not permitted for use within 14 days of a race in Kentucky. At the time, split sample testing had not yet been completed to confirm the finding.

Attorney Clark Brewster, who represents Medina Spirit owner Amr Zedan, revealed that the University of California-Davis performed the split sample test, which was aimed at confirming or denying the original finding of Industrial Laboratories.

Learn more about split sample testing in this May 21 feature.

Brewster told writer Joe Drape that UC-Davis did not do any further analysis on the sample to see whether it contained other substances that could give clues as to the origins of the betamethasone. (This type of additional analysis is not typically part of a split sample test.) Brewster will request further analysis be done on the post-race samples by a different laboratory.

Robertson released the following statement, which indicated DNA testing would also be done on the sample:

“In response to the inquiries, this will acknowledge that the Medina Spirit split sample confirmed the finding of betamethasone at 25 picograms. There is other testing that is being conducted, including DNA testing. We expect this additional testing to confirm that the presence of the betamethasone was from the topical ointment Otomax and not an injection. At the end of the day, we anticipate this case to be about the treatment of Medina Spirit's skin rash with Otomax. We will have nothing further to say until the additional testing is complete.”

Baffert initially told media he did not know why the horse had betamethasone in its system, and cast suspicion that he was a victim of some kind of tampering or sabotage. Two days later, he announced that Medina Spirit had been treated with a topical cream that contained betamethasone while treating a skin rash on the horse's hindquarters.

Betamethasone is a corticosteroid which is often used therapeutically to assist with reducing inflammation in equine joints, although it is also present in some topical applications like Otomax. Kentucky changed its regulations governing corticosteroid joint injections last August, pushing out the pre-race administration time to 14 days pre-race and removing the drug threshold from its code, meaning no level of the drug is acceptable in a post-race finding. (The commission said at the time that testing could not detect administrations farther than 14 days out.)

In the wake of the Santa Anita breakdowns, Kentucky was one of several states that began requiring private veterinarians to examine horses several days pre-race in addition to the traditional pre-race examination from commission veterinarians. Commission staff had expressed concern that additional pre-race veterinary exams taking place farther ahead of race time could be influenced by the anti-inflammatory effects of corticosteroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories.

Baffert has had multiple high-profile therapeutic drug positives in the past year and a half, including one in Kentucky for betamethasone after the rule change when Gamine tested positive following the Kentucky Oaks.

The Friday Show Presented By Uptowncharlybrown Stud: FAQs From Readers

Google Analytics confirms something we already knew. May has been a very busy month for horse racing news. With a few days remaining until we turn the calendar page, the Paulick Report has had over 600,000 unique visitors and 1.1 million user sessions since May 1.

Many of those readers have questions.

Such as … “Why haven't you reported on the status of the split sample from Medina Spirit's post-race test from the Kentucky Derby?” “Why isn't everyone doing hair testing? And our all-time favorite: “Why do you only report negative news?”

Paulick Report editor-in-chief Natalie Voss and publisher Ray Paulick run through some of the most frequently asked questions about how and why we report what we do (and sometimes what we don't or can't).

Joe Nevills then joins Paulick to talk about the Wisconsin connections behind our Star of the Week.

Watch this week's show, presented by Uptowncharlybrown Stud, below:

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Lost And Found Presented By LubriSYNHA: Relatively Speaking, Even Non-Winners Can Have Bragging Rights

Not all Thoroughbreds excel in the family business. A glance at any catalog page highlights the overachievers' accomplishments with barely, if any, mention of relatives that were less than stellar on the track.

A look at the bloodlines of second-crop sire Protonico is a prime example of the genetic mysteries that propel Thoroughbreds in vastly different directions. A multiple graded stakes winner and near millionaire, Protonico has quickly gained attention as the sire of Medina Spirit, who crossed the wire first in this year's Kentucky Derby. While he capitalizes on that new-found fame, his younger half siblings Kakadu and Lock Keeper have become champions in the eyes of their owners.

Protonico (2011 by Giant's Causeway), Kakadu (2013 Tizway mare) and Lock Keeper (2016 Quality Road gelding) are offspring of the A.P. Indy mare Alpha Spirit, who was unplaced in two starts. Like her aforementioned offspring, she raced as a homebred for Oussama Aboughazale's International Equities Holding. In contrast to Protonico, the records of Kakadu and Lock Keeper are nearly identical to their dam. Their connections recognized they were better suited to a non-racing line of work and channeled them to T & B Sporthorses of Brooke Schafer and Tay Wienold for initial reschooling in Lexington.

Kakadu now is being refashioned as an eventer by Lexington-based Heather Goumas. The mare has a natural inclination for the jumping portion of the sport, which also includes the precision movements of dressage. Lock Keeper is continuing his education with Emily Joyce in Massachusetts with a dressage focus.

Goumas and Joyce knew their show prospects were closely related to some of racing's biggest names but neither was aware that the winner of America's most legendary race is their horses' “nephew” Medina Spirit.

“That is excellent; that is pretty neat,” said Goumas, who was knowledgeable of Kakadu's bragging rights as the dam of American Pharoah's first foal named First Pharoah. First Pharoah's unique status made him a headliner for awhile but his stout build made him an unlikely racing candidate. He, too, found his way to life as a pleasure mount after Kakadu's subsequent reproductive difficulty left First Pharoah as her only offspring.

The lofty lineage of Kakadu and Lock Keeper certainly is a conversation piece but it is their demeanors that have charmed their owners.

Kakadu, now known as Luna, was originally purchased for Goumas's 16-year-old daughter. When their personalities did not quite click, her daughter switched to showing Goumas's Warmblood mount instead while Goumas continues with Kakadu.

“With mares especially you have to find the right fit,” Goumas said. “She and Luna are both pretty sassy.”

Goumas lovingly explained that sassiness.

”Just recently I had Kakadu in the (barn aisle) cross ties and she deliberately swatted her tail at my daughter when she walked by,” Goumas said. “When I gently brush her knees, she squeals and stomps her foot. She very plainly says 'this is what I like, this is what I don't like.' She is sweet, too, and really curious. She is very interested and is always looking for the next jump.”

A through-the-ears shot of Lock Keeper in his new job.
Photo courtesy Emily Joyce

Lock Keeper, whose barn name is Keeper, has endeared himself to those at his stable with his “puppy dog” ways and eagerness to learn according to Joyce.

“He is very calm,” Joyce said. “Most people could not believe that he was only four when I got him last year. He is so willing under saddle. He is generally better behaved than most horses who are much older than him. He is not spooky. He would rather go up to something and sniff it. If you leave something near his stall door, it will be in his mouth and he will shake it up and down. He is a very bright, curious horse.”

Both Goumas and Joyce emphasized team work and a steady program to fully transition racehorses into their new assignments.

“It was important to me to get a horse who had been restarted and had come from a reputable home,” she said. “I have the right boarding facility and the right trainer to develop a program for him. Horses like a routine and like to work.”

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