Bob Baffert’s Medina Spirit, the winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby, has not managed to pass the test for drugs. The horse had led his trainer to a seventh record win with the victory in the derby.
The Statement From Bob Baffert
Bob Baffert stated that the test results have “shocked” him. The flagged substance is betamethasone, which was over the permissible limits. Baffert, however, claimed that the substance has never been administered by him.
Bob Baffert continued that he has received the strongest punch in the gut for an activity he claimed he never did. John Velazquez had ridden Medina Spirit in the most famous derby of America on 1st May. Churchill Downs was the location of the race.
68-year-old Bob Baffert is the only trainer in 37 years to get the Triple Crown of the United States. He had managed it with American Pharaoh which had come in first place in Belmont States, Kentucky Derby, and Preakness State in 2015. Baffert, a Hall of Famer, managed the achievement again with Justify in 2018.
On Sunday, however, he gave his statement to the press revealing the reports of the drug test. The eligible threshold for the Derby is 10 picograms. The test found 21 picograms in Medina Spirit. The trainer, based out of California, claimed that it was an injustice for the horse. So there’s no reason for him to be embarrassed, rather, he feels like being robbed.
Baffert continued that he is going to fight the report with all he has because the horse deserves it from him. The owner and the industry are owed as much as well. He added that the official disqualification of the horse has not happened yet. However, the possibility remains when other processes and tests are finished.
Baffert has been suspended by Churchill Downs from entering any races there.
