Horse racing-Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit fails drug test

Trainer Bob Baffert, who won a record-setting seventh Kentucky Derby with Medina Spirit this month, on Sunday said the dark bay colt had failed a drug test.

Baffert said a post-race sample provided by Medina Spirit had tested positive for 21 picograms of the anti-inflammatory drug betamethasone, over the legal limit in Kentucky racing.

Medina Spirit, ridden by jockey John Velazquez, had secured a half-length triumph over Mandaloun in the 19-horse Kentucky Derby on May 1.

Baffert’s camp were informed of the news by Kentucky officials on Saturday, but the 68-year-old denied giving the horse illegal substances and said the positive test was “the biggest gut punch in racing.”

“I was totally shocked when I heard this news,” Baffert told a news conference. “I’m still trying to absorb it. I am the most scrutinised trainer. The last thing I want to do is something that would jeopardize the greatest sport,” he said.

“This shouldn’t have happened. There’s a problem somewhere. It didn’t come from us. It’s such an injustice to the horse. I don’t feel embarrassed, I feel like I was wronged.”

Looking for the best online betting site and Live betting? Visit Heritage Sports!

A sample collected at the same time as the one that came back positive will now be tested to confirm the result.

Churchill Downs said it had suspended Baffert from entering horses at its famed racetrack and said that if the positive test is upheld, Medina Spirit’s results will be invalidated and Mandaloun will be declared the Kentucky Derby winner.

Baffert stated Medina Spirit had not yet been officially disqualified from the Derby and that he would launch his own investigation.

“I’m going to fight it,” he added. “There are problems in racing, but it’s not Bob Baffert. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, but why is it happening to me?”

In 2015, Baffert-trained American Pharoah became the first horse since 1978 to win U.S. thoroughbred racing’s coveted Triple Crown. Baffert celebrated another Triple Crown in 2018 with Justify.

Horse racing in the United States has come under fire in recent years for the sport’s widespread use of drugs, which has contributed to the high-profile deaths of horses at tracks around the country.

Animal rights group PETA said regulators should permanently ban Baffert, whose horses have failed five drug tests in a little more than a year.

Get all the latest Live Betting and Sport News updates on your social media outlets. Find us on both  Facebook and Twitter