Kentucky Derby Champion Medina Spirit Dies During Practice


Spirit of Medina questioned by his victory in the Kentucky Derby drug test after a failed racedied Monday after a timed workout.

The equine medical director of the California Horseracing Board, Dr. Jeff Blea said the colt suffered an apparent heart attack after five long runs at the Santa Anita racetrack in Southern California.

“He wasn’t feeling well towards the end of the breeze this morning and his rider tried to pull him up,” Blea said. “It went down. Our on-scene vet went right over there and it was already expired.”

Neither foal trainer Bob Baffert nor Baffert’s attorney W. Craig Robertson III responded to requests for comment. Amr Zedan, Saudi Arabian owner of Medina Spirit, was not immediately available for comment.

Zedan’s lawyer, Clark Brewster, said he spoke to both his client and Baffert Monday morning. Brewster said both Medina Spirit are doing well after finishing an impressive second place at the Classic Breeders’ Cup Classic in November and are gearing up for another race in the coming weeks.

“They’re in pain. It’s really tragic,” Brewster said. “He was training great and moving easily, and then when Bob finished he said he fell.”

By 12 to 1, Medina Spirit was a staggering winner of America’s most famous race, the Derby. The foal sold for just $1,000 as a full-blown and was a bargain for Zedan, who only paid $35,000 for it. Medina Spirit’s victory marked seventh, a record, for Baffert-trained horses in America’s greatest race.

But a week after winning the Derby, Baffert announced that a post-race test had found the drug betamethasone, a corticosteroid injected into the joints to reduce pain and swelling, in Medina Spirit. At the time, Baffert vehemently denied that he or anyone on his team had given the drug to Medina Spirit.

In the days that followed, he gave a series of television and radio interviews offering various theories about how the colt tested positive. Churchill criticized Downs’ suspension of him as “harsh” and referred to “cancel culture” for the discussion.

However, Baffert soon reversed himself and admitted that the Spirit of Medina had rash on his rear end. On the advice of a veterinarian, the ointment was applied daily to the rear end of Medina Spirit to heal dermatitis containing the substance.



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