Medina Spirit, Kentucky Derby Winner That Failed Drug Test, Dies After Training at Santa Anita

Medina Spirit, the Bob Baffert-trained 2021 KY Derby victor below investigation for a failed dose prove inward that race, died suddenly Monday morning time after a grooming session at Santa Anita Mungo Park inwards California.

Ray Paulick, publisher of gymnastic horse racing tidings situation PaulickReport.com, reported on Twitter that Dr. Jeff Blea, the equine medical managing director for the CA Horse Racing Board (CHRB), confirmed the gymnastic horse died on the track.

A subsequent financial statement from the CHRB said Medina Spirit had just finished his workout when he collapsed close the finishing line.

He died immediately… All horses that expire within facilities regulated by the California Horse Racing Board undergo post-mortem (necropsy) exam at a California Animal Health and Food Safety symptomatic laboratory below the auspices of the University of California, Davis,” the statement said.

A financial statement from Santa Anita indicated the bangtail died “of a likely cardiac event,” citing the on-track veterinary squad that tended to him.

That squad took hair, blood, and weewee samples and sent those to the CHRB.

A reason of death will non live determined, the board said, until the necropsy and toxicology tests have been completed.

Baffert, a G. Stanley Hall of Fame trainer, issued a financial statement expression his intact team was “devastated” past the incident.

“Medina Spirit was a outstanding champion, a fellow member of our kinsfolk who was loved by all, and we are deep bereavement his loss,” Baffert said. “I testament ever cherish the proud and personal memories of Medina Spirit and his tremendous spirit.”

Kentucky Derby Investigation Ongoing

Monday’s “unfortunate event,” as Santa Anita called it, took come out simply years after a unexampled developing occurred inwards the KY Derby case. type A 12-1 longshot inwards the theater of 19, the colt went wire-to-wire and gave Baffert a tape 7th triumph in the classic race.

Late Friday, lawyers for Baffert and owner Zedan Racing Stables released statements regarding new do drugs tests performed on a try taken from the Derby victor after that race.

The attorneys said the results showed the betamethasone found inward the horse’s scheme inward May was not the cast of the dose that the KY Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) considers an illegal substance.

Betamethasone is an anti-inflammatory drug drug, and the tests conducted after the Derby found more than twice the sound bound inward Al Madinah Spirit’s system. Baffert claimed the positive degree mental test was produced by an balm used to treat a rash, and not a direct injection, which Baffert’s attorney has said is the pattern of the do drugs against KHRC rules.

The KHRC confirmed Mon that it is relieve investigating Al Madinah Spirit’s KY Derby win. If the commission upholds the failed dose tests, so Al Madinah Spirit would be disqualified, Baffert would lose that record, and Zedan Racing would forgo the $1.86 gazillion treasure money. type A dangling and amercement for Baffert would also live likely.

Baffert is currently under a two-year suspension from Winston Churchill Downs and other tracks the Louisville-based gaming companionship operates as a termination of the failed dose test. Churchill officials took additional process to dungeon any of the trainer’s horses from running inwards either the 2022 or 2023 Kentucky Derby races. They did so past prohibiting them from earning points inward qualifying races leading upward to the Run for the Roses.

“Churchill Downs mourns the tragic loss of Al Madinah Spirit and extends our deepest condolences to his fans and all who loved this horse,” the keep company said inwards a statement.

Medina Spirit Racing’s Latest High-Profile Death

Nearly three years ago, the boast of gymnastic horse racing found itself inwards the throes of controversy, as dozens of horses died during races or preparation sessions at Santa Anita, considered i of the premiere tracks inwards the country. The deaths eventually led Santa Anita possessor The Stronach Group to closed land for weeks during its winter-spring fulfill to soundly inspect the track.

It also heightened sentience around equine safety and creature welfare issues tied to the sportsman that appointment indorse to America’s Colonial Era.

Those deaths at Santa Anita and other tracks led to The Stronach Group and other rails operators – including Winston Churchill Downs and the New York Racing Association – pledging to reclaim the feature and ameliorate modulate how and when horses can buoy take in medications before races.

It also spurred legislative sue in Washington, where US Reps. Andy Barr, R-KY, and St. Paul Tonko, D-NY, proposed lawmaking called the Horseracing Integrity Act. That bill, which the bipartizan lawmakers first-class honours degree offered inwards 2015, received a groundswell of support on Capitol Hill.

US Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-KY, helped bear on a similar Federal Reserve note through and through Congress. The Horseracing Safety and Integrity Act (HSIA) was included inwards a consolidated disbursal vizor lawmakers passed nearly a yr ago. Like Barr and Tonko’s bill, it will plant nationwide racing regulations for the world-class time.

Animal Wellness Action Executive Director Marty Irby, a longtime title-holder and lobbyist for the horse racing reforms that finally passed Congress, said inward a statement that Medina Spirit “will ever feature an star past his name.” Irby blamed the betamethasone tests and his connexion to Baffert, who, according to The New York Times, has had horses run out do drugs tests 29 times during his four-decade career.

“Race-day doping has no more set inward American Equus caballus racing, and we experience to admiration if doping contributes non only if to on-track injuries and death, but also to post-track health risks,” Irby said.

“American horse racing continues to follow ridden with outrage after scandal, but we trust the effectuation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act testament shortly land legitimacy rearward to the sport.”