Kentucky Derby winning horse Medina Spirit has tested positive for an anti-inflammatory, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday morning.
The Hall of Fame trainer denied any wrongdoing, calling the news “the biggest gut punch in racing for something I didn’t do.”
Medina Spirit tested positive for 21 picograms of betamethasone. Baffert said that the process had just begun and Medina Spirit has not been disqualified. A second sample still has to be processed.
Medina Spirit is still expected to leave Monday in advance of Saturday’s Preakness Stakes.
A week before the Derby, Baffert avoided a 15-day suspension when the Arkansas Racing Commission granted his appeal after two of his horses tested positive. He was fined $1,500 in February for a positive test for an anti-inflammatory.
Medina Spirit’s victory at Churchill Downs last Saturday gave Baffert his seventh Kentucky Derby win, the most of any trainer in the race’s 147-year history.
Despite 12-1 odds, Medina Spirit led all the way and ran 1¼ miles in 2:01.02. He paid $26.20, $12 and $7.60. The victory was worth $1.86 million for a horse that was purchased as a yearling for $1,000 and was a bargain-basement buy at $35,000 last July for current owner Amr Zedan of Saudi Arabia.
Medina Spirit was the second straight horse trained by Baffert and ridden by jockey John Velazquez to win the Kentucky Derby. Eight months ago Authentic won a pandemic-delayed Derby in September.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.