Kentucky Derby Winner Medina Spirit Will Reportedly Be Allowed to Run in Preakness, Despite Positive Drug Test

Brandon ContesMay 11th, 2021, 2:25 pm
 

Sam Mallon/Getty Images

Despite claiming to be a victim of “cancel culture,” trainer Bob Baffert will be allowed to enter his Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit in the Preakness Stakes, despite a failed drug test announced days after the Run for the Roses.

Medina Spirit became the seventh Kentucky Derby winner on Baffert’s resume earlier this month. But shortly after the horse tested positive for a banned substance, the legendary horse trainer was banned from Churchill Downs. Baffert responded to the decision by claiming he was a victim of “cancel culture.”

“And I think they had to just – with all the noise going on, we live in a different world now. This America is different and it was like a cancel culture kind of thing so they are reviewing it,” the trainer said Monday on Fox News.

Despite many believing the failed drug test should keep Medina Spirit from running in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, Eric Crawford of WDRB in Louisville reported Tuesday that the Derby winner will be allowed to compete.

Post positions were announced Tuesday afternoon, with Medina Spirit in the draw, making it official that Baffert’s horse will run in the Preakness Stakes Saturday. Originally scheduled for Monday, the post draw was delayed one day to gather more information on Medina Spirit’s positive drug test.

Baffert and his legal team have routinely needed to explain why his horses have failed drug tests. In the last 13 years, Medina Spirit was Baffert’s fifth horse to test positive for a banned substance. And over the course of Baffert’s four-decade career as a trainer, this was at least his 29th to fail a drug test.

As a name that transcends the sport, horse racing has rarely penalized Baffert with more than a slap on the wrist. But even before the ruling was handed down by the Preakness as to whether Medina Spirit would be eligible to run this weekend, Baffert already decided he would not attend regardless.

“I go to Baltimore to have a good time. It’s a fun trip,” Baffert said. “I don’t want to take away from the horses. I think it’d be a distraction if I went. I think it’d be a distraction if I win. The owners will be there. (Assistant trainer) Jimmy (Barnes) can handle it.”

It’s rare for the Kentucky Derby winner to bow out of the Preakness. In 2019, a virus kept Derby winner Country House from running in the Preakness, but it was just the second occurrence in 23 years.

Medina Spirit’s failed drug test is a blackeye for Baffert, and for the sport. The lack of surprise surrounding the incident is a sign of fading credibility from horse racing fans and gamblers.

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