Over a year after permanently disabling comments on The Paulick Report, the comments section is back! Well, sort of. We can't fire up story comments again. The number of hours our staff was collectively losing in moderation was too great, and the few bad actors out there made it too labor-intensive to continue, even as we tried many different systems to combat them.
The good news is, we are still including reader voices here on the Paulick Report with this feature. Read a previous edition here.
Nearly 300 days after the 2021 Kentucky Derby, it appears we finally have an official winner. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission stewards announced on Monday that first-place finisher Medina Spirit would be disqualified from the race for a betamethasone overage. Trainer Bob Baffert also faces a 90-day suspension connected to the positive, pending a likely appeal. Read the story here.
If the result stands as announced, this means Mandaloun is the 2021 Kentucky Derby winner, and Baffert could potentially be suspended through the Triple Crown season.
In this edition of The Comments Section, we've collected the many takes we've seen on social media and in our inboxes regarding the ruling, and its implications for the present and future.
I can't help but feel bad for Medina Spirit. He was a horse who exceeded expectations, was an inexpensive purchase, and always tried. Not his fault he had a trainer who couldn't follow the rules.
— JC (@TampaVol19) February 21, 2022
Disagree with today's decision all you want, but your opinion loses credibility when you say it's punishing the horse. It's not. You can't even argue it hurts his stud chances in this case, because he is dead.
— Nicole (@Nicole__Meiner) February 21, 2022
So who will be the shortest reigning Kentucky Derby winner? Authentic or Mandaloun?
— Megan Arszman (@MLArszman) February 21, 2022
Hearing this news today about derby is like when athletes in the Olympics get their metals years later or after the games. No fanfare , it just doesn't have the same meaning when it's not in the same moment then when it happens . But hats off to the mandaloun connects .
— Lenny (@fatherfig1) February 21, 2022
Now I want the $ I lost betting on Mandaloun & all the exotics
@DerbyMedia @ChurchillDowns https://t.co/gFXarwHVVK
— PriscilaB
(@pribeloch) February 21, 2022
If Bob Baffert cared one iota about this industry he would encourage his owners with Kentucky Derby contenders to move to another trainer this week and then go on a 90 cruise. But we all know that is not going to happen.
— Michael Dempsey (@turfnsport) February 21, 2022
Live look at Protonico pic.twitter.com/GLYFHaFVha
— Emily White (@emianwhite) February 21, 2022
What's funny about all the defenses and excuses it comes down to him being A. a cheater or B. recklessly incompetent.
It's been almost ten years of shady stuff happening and the defense always boils down to “oops lol”
— C. Shelly
(@ballydolphin) February 21, 2022
If you think waiting 296 days for the Ky Derby to be adjudicated is a long time, it's actually super fast compared to…
the inaugural 2020 Saudi Cup, still unresolved 718 days (and counting) since Maximum Security was first, Midnight Bisou second
So there's that— Jay Privman (@DRFPrivman) February 21, 2022
In wake of Medina Spirit's formal DQ from '21 KY Derby, and Baffert's promise to appeal, worth recalling that last Derby drugs DQ in '68, took 5 yrs in court to uphold. Mainstream racing (Triple Crown etc), already wobbly, would twist in the wind w/ a repeat.
— Tim Layden (@ByTimLayden) February 21, 2022
Want to email us your thoughts? Click Ask Ray in the red header bar. Please include a good contact email where the staff can reach you with questions.
The post The Comments Section: Your Reactions To Medina Spirit’s Derby DQ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
