Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failed a post-race drug test, once again raising questions about horse doping in the sport when the colt's blood sample was found to be in violation of the state's medication protocols for racehorses.
Trainer Bob Baffert said Medina Spirit tested positive for the steroid betamethasone. Baffert said the test showed 21 picograms of betamethasone. While a picogram is a trillionth of a gram, the test is for picograms per milliliter, and a horse can have 50,000 milliliters of blood.
Rules in the state of Kentucky limit the use of the steroid to 14 days or more before a race. Any level of detection on race day is a violation.
If the violation is upheld after a second round of testing, Medina Spirit would be disqualified and second-place finisher Mandaloun named winner of the Kentucky Derby.
It's the latest high-profile drug violation in horse racing, which was rocked last year by the indictments of two trainers and 25 others in a doping scandal. Changes are coming to standardize medication in horse racing after years, but a law passed by the U.S. Congress doesn't go into effect until next year.
Here's a look at how Medina Spirit got to this point and what's next:
Q. Why is betamethasone used for horses?
A. It is a steroid used to reduce inflammation in the horse's joints and is not considered a performance-enhancing drug. But it can give horses an advantage over those without betamethasone in their system who wouldn't feel the therapeutic effects while racing.
Kentucky limits the use of the steroid to 14 days or more before a race, so it clears a horse's system before getting into the starting gate.
It's a man-made corticosteroid that can be administered topically but is far more often injected into a horse's joints.
Q. Has betamethasone been found in other Baffert-trained horses?
A. It is the same substance found in Baffert-trained filly Gamine, leading to her disqualification from third place in the 2020 Kentucky Oaks. Baffert did not appeal that ruling. The trainer, who has denied giving the steroid to Medina Spirit, has cited contamination as a reason for this and previous violations.
Q. Does Baffert have a history of doping horses?
A. Not with performance-enhancing drugs, though this is the fifth drug violation in the past 13 months for Baffert. Before her betamethasone violation in Kentucky, Gamine was found to have 185 picograms and Baffert-trained Charlatan 46 picograms of lidocaine during racing at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, which carried a suspension that was appealed and overturned.
Another Baffert horse, Merneith, tested positive for the cough suppressant dextrorphan after racing last summer at Del Mar in California.
Earlier this year, the California Horse Racing Board allowed Justify to remain the winner of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby after the horse was found in post-race testing to have scopolamine, which is sometimes used to treat mild colic and spasms and can also show up as a result of environmental contamination when horses eat hay that contains jimsonweed, which grows wild in California.
Q. How are horses tested and how many have tested positive this year?
A. Mandatory post-race testing varies from state to state, so there is no centralized database record of how many horses have tested positive for betamethasone, other substances or performance-enhancing drugs.
There is a safety and integrity bill that was recently signed into law and goes into effect in July 2022 with the goal of implementing consistent, transparent and enforceable doping rules across all racing jurisdictions.
Q. What's next for Medina Spirit, Baffert?
A. Baffert and Medina Spirit owners requested a second round of testing, a split sample from the colt. Using a split sample is a way of re-testing to verify the presence of the steroid. It could take beyond this week for the results of that sample to be analyzed.
Q. What happens to prize money if Medina Spirit is disqualified?
A. If Medina Spirit is disqualified from the Kentucky Derby, the $1.86 million winner's share of the purse money would go to the owners and trainer of second-place finisher Mandaloun.
