Medina Spirit disqualified from Kentucky Derby, Mandaloun named winner | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — For the second time in the 147-year history of the Kentucky Derby, a winner was disqualified for a drug infraction.

Bob Baffert’s Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first on May 1, 2021, but later tested positive for betamethasone, a corticosteroid banned on race days in Kentucky, was disqualified after a second race day sample also tested positive. Second-place finisher Mandaloun was elevated to Derby winner.

Kentucky horse racing stewards announced their decision Monday to disqualify Medina Spirit after a hearing with the trainer and his attorneys. Baffert’s attorney, Clark Brewster, followed the announcement with a statement that said they will appeal the decision. 

Brewster said, “this ruling represents an egregious departure from both the facts and the law, but the numerous public statements by KHRC officials over the last several months have made perfectly clear that Bob Baffert’s fate was decided before we ever sat down for a hearing before the three stewards, one of whom is directly employed by Churchill Downs as the racing director at Turfway Park.”

Baffert can appeal the ruling and receive a hearing in front of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which he is expected to do. The trainer could also challenge any commission decision in court in Franklin County, Kentucky.

Stewards also suspended Baffert for 90 days, until June 5, and fined him $7,500. The stewards are not required to elaborate on their reasoning. Their official notice listed the cause for disqualification simply as “betamethasone in blood.”

The ramifications are historic all around. Baffert, whose win with Medina Spirit was his seventh, making him the winningest trainer in Derby history, now falls back into a tie with Ben Jones and becomes just the second trainer ever to lose the Derby for a drug infraction.

The delayed victory also brings a distinction to Mandaloun’s trainer Brad Cox, who becomes the first Louisville native ever to train a Derby winner. It’s a bittersweet accomplishment for Juddmonte Farms, Mandaloun’s owner and breeder, after the death of owner Prince Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud in January.

The decision made by the horse racing stewards is supported by the Animal Wellness action, a group advocating for laws to shield animals from cruelty. Executive director, Marty Irby says the consequences for Baffert are reasonable.

“People are going to feel like the horses are safer,” said Irby. “I think it’s going to help lift this dark cloud that we’ve seen with Baffert over the past few years.” 

“In the public eye, he has little, if any credibility, and as long as horse racing continues to embrace Bob Baffert, horse racing is not going to have very much credibility, either,” said Irby.

It is the first off-track disqualification of a Derby winner since 1968, when Dancer’s Image was disqualified after traces of the drug phenylbutazone were found in a post-race urinalysis and Forward Pass was declared the winner.

“Today Churchill Downs recognizes Mandaloun as the winner of the 147th running of…