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 under investigation for a failed do drugs prove inwards that race, died suddenly Monday morn after a training session at Santa Anita Mungo Park in California.

Ray Paulick, publishing company of horse racing word site PaulickReport.com, reported on Twitter that Dr. Jeff Blea, the equid medical manager for the Calif. Horse Racing Board (CHRB), confirmed the Equus caballus died on the track.

A subsequent statement from the CHRB said Al Madinah Spirit had just finished his workout when he collapsed near the goal line.

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

A statement from Santa Anita indicated the race horse 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 dying will not be determined, the gameboard said, until the necropsy and toxicology tests experience been completed.

Baffert, a Charles Francis Hall of Fame trainer, issued a financial statement locution his entire team up was “devastated” by the incident.

“Medina Spirit was a great champion, a fellow member of our family unit who was loved by all, and we are deep mourning his loss,” Baffert said. “I will ever cherish the proud and personal memories of Al Madinah Spirit and his tremendous spirit.”

Kentucky Derby Investigation Ongoing

Monday’s “unfortunate event,” as Santa Anita called it, took come in just now years after a new evolution occurred in the Kentucky Derby case. type A 12-1 longshot inward the field of operation of 19, the colt went wire-to-wire and gave Baffert a enter seventh victory inwards the classic race.

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

The attorneys said the results showed the betamethasone found inward the horse’s system of rules in May was not the constitute of the drug that the KY Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) considers an illegal substance.

Betamethasone is an anti-inflammatory drug, and the tests conducted after the Derby found more than twice the effectual limit in Medina Spirit’s system. Baffert claimed the positively charged prove was produced past an ointment used to do by a rash, and not a unmediated injection, which Baffert’s attorney has said is the variant of the dose against KHRC rules.

The KHRC confirmed Mon that it is ease investigating Medina Spirit’s KY Derby win. If the direction upholds the failed drug tests, and then Al Madinah Spirit would follow disqualified, Baffert would turn a loss that record, and Zedan Racing would forfeit the $1.86 trillion value money. type A suspension and mulct for Baffert would also live likely.

Baffert is currently below a two-year respite from John Churchill Downs and other tracks the Louisville-based gaming society operates as a final result of the failed dose test. First Duke of Marlborough officials took additional process to keep any of the trainer’s horses from running inward either the 2022 or 2023 KY Derby races. They did so by prohibiting them from earning points inward qualifying races leading upward to the Run for the Roses.

“Churchill Downs mourns the tragical deprivation of Medina Spirit and extends our deepest condolences to his fans and all who loved this horse,” the accompany said inward a statement.

Medina Spirit Racing’s Latest High-Profile Death

Nearly tierce years ago, the feature of Equus caballus racing found itself inwards the throes of controversy, as dozens of horses died during races or preparation sessions at Santa Anita, considered single of the premier tracks inwards the country. The deaths eventually led Santa Anita owner The Stronach Group to closed land for weeks during its winter-spring match to exhaustively inspect the track.

It also heightened consciousness around equid refuge and fauna welfare issues fastened to the boast that escort plump for 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 regenerate the summercater and better regulate how and when horses can receive medications before races.

It also spurred legislative process inwards Washington, where US Reps. Andy Barr, R-KY, and Apostle Paul Tonko, D-NY, proposed lawmaking called the Horseracing Integrity Act. That bill, which the two-party lawmakers first of all offered inward 2015, received a groundswell of back up on Capitol Hill.

US Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-KY, helped pushing a similar visor through and through Congress. The Horseracing Safety and Integrity Act (HSIA) was included in a consolidated disbursal greenback lawmakers passed nearly a year ago. Like Barr and Tonko’s bill, it testament institute 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 in a statement that Medina Spirit “will ever feature an star past his name.” Irby blamed the betamethasone tests and his link to Baffert, who, according to The New House of York Times, has had horses break down do drugs tests 29 times during his four-decade career.

“Race-day doping has no more station inward American Equus caballus racing, and we experience to inquire if doping contributes not only if to on-track injuries and death, but also to post-track wellness risks,” Irby said.

“American horse racing continues to be ridden with scandal after scandal, but we believe the effectuation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act testament soon land legitimacy back to the sport.”