Medina Spirit Stripped of 2021 Kentucky Derby Win
The New York Times
The horse’s trainer, Bob Baffert, was suspended and fined after his horse failed a postrace drug test last year.
Medina Spirit is no longer the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The colt, who died unexpectedly in December, was officially disqualified by Kentucky racing officials on Monday for failing a drug test after winning America’s greatest race.
Medina Spirit is only the third horse in the 147-year history of the race to receive such a penalty after finishing first. The decision means the colt’s owner, Amr Zedan, will not collect the $1.8 million first-place check, which was never paid out and which now goes to Mandaloun’s owner, Juddmonte, the racing and breeding enterprise founded by Prince Khalid bin Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who died last year. It also erases the Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s seventh Kentucky Derby victory, which was a record.
In addition, Baffert was suspended for 90 days beginning March 8 and fined $7,500. The ruling followed a hearing via Zoom on Feb. 14 before a three-member panel of stewards for the Kentucky Horse Racing Association.
