Attorney: Test Indicates Cream Used on Medina Spirit

According to an attorney for trainer Bob Baffert, specific testing of Medina Spirit 's urine sample taken after his first-place finish in the 2021 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) indicates the colt's positive test for betamethasone can be attributed to the treatment of the anti-fungal cream Otomax.

Baffert attorney Craig Robertson wrote in a Dec. 3 statement that the recent testing, completed by New York Equine Drug Testing and Research Laboratory director Dr. George Maylin, confirmed the betamethasone did not come from an injection.

Betamethasone is a corticosteroid used in racehorses, typically given via injection, that serves as an anti-inflammatory. In Kentucky it is prohibited at any level on raceday. Veterinarians, acting on behalf of trainers, are advised to not inject horses with betamethasone within 14 days of competition.

Following the post-race positive, Baffert's attorneys and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission this summer sent Medina Spirit's urine sample to Maylin. Hoping the lab could provide exculpatory or mitigating evidence, Baffert's attorneys were hopeful Maylin could confirm certain specific ingredients within Otomax, potentially validating their assertion that the horse was treated with the ointment.

Otomax, widely marketed to treat ear infections in canines, was regularly given at the recommendation of Baffert's veterinarian to Medina Spirit to treat a skin condition on his hindquarters leading up to the Derby at Churchill Downs, Robertson has indicated. Another Baffert attorney, Clark Brewster, who also represents Medina Spirit's owner Amr Zedan of Zedan Racing Stables, previously said this treatment was noted in veterinary treatment records.

Baffert's attorney wrote Friday that "betamethasone valerate" is found in Otomax, and that "betamethasone acetate" is found in injections. He said the New York testing indicated that only betamethasone valerate was found in the Medina Spirit sample. He said this finding, "should definitively resolve the matter in Kentucky and Medina Spirit should remain the official winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby."

Brewster also indicated similar findings in a Friday statement he also issued, writing that Medina Spirit was treated for a "skin lesion" and that Maylin's conclusions came "through metabolite confirmation." 

Robertson added in his statement that, "Only betamethasone acetate is addressed and regulated in the rules of racing in Kentucky." But in June during a court hearing in Kentucky before the urine sample was sent to New York, Jennifer Wolsing, general counsel for the KHRC, said the betamethasone prohibition is "not differentiated" between creams and injections in the regulator's list of prohibited substances.

At that time of that hearing, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate questioned whether the different types of betamethasone would matter, recalling what he viewed as a similar case that proceeded through his court and the legal system where sanctions were ultimately upheld.

With testing finished in New York, a stewards' hearing is likely to be scheduled, unless more evaluation is sought. Test results at the New York lab were delayed in part by obtaining unique metabolite synthesis information.

Sherelle Roberts, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, declined comment on the statement from Baffert's attorney on the findings of the New York laboratory. She said the KHRC does not issue public comment on such matters, leaving its public actions to stewards' rulings and statements in regulatory and legal documents.

Roberts said stewards' hearings in the state are closed and not open to media or the public. She again declined comment on the scheduling of a hearing date. Stewards usually issue a ruling shortly after a hearing.

Medina Spirit faces the possibility of disqualification from the Derby if stewards do not view the latest finding as exculpatory or mitigating, though a disqualification would likely lead to a regulatory appeal and possibly court challenges. First place in the Derby is worth $1.86 million.

Should a disqualification occur, Juddmonte's Mandaloun , second across the wire, would move up to first, and Medina Spirit would fall to last.

Though no regulator action has yet taken place relative to the Derby, Baffert has been sanctioned by individual track owners since the initial findings. Acting as a private property owner, Churchill Downs Inc. suspended Baffert from competition this spring for about two years—through the conclusion of the 2023 spring meet at Churchill Downs and its other tracks. That ban is specific to CDI-owned tracks.

Furthermore, CDI prohibits horses conditioned by suspended trainers such as Baffert to earn points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and Road to the Kentucky Oaks.

The New York Racing Association also suspended Baffert, though the trainer has contested NYRA's action in court. An injunction allowed Baffert to run horses this summer at Saratoga Race Course. A hearing in that matter could take place this winter.

Due to reciprocity, suspensions issued via regulators, such as the KHRC, are honored in other jurisdictions.

Medina Spirit's test result is one of five drug positives for Baffert in a year leading up to and including this year's Derby. Over a larger sample of years, Brewster has argued that Baffert's record of drug violations is small, much lower than many other leading trainers.

"Since May, Mr. Baffert has been the subject of an unfair rush to judgment," Robertson concluded in Friday's statement. "We asked all along that everyone wait until the facts and science came to light."

The first reporting of the post-race test after the Derby came from Baffert himself in a May 9 press conference on the Churchill backstretch. On that day Baffert said Medina Spirit, "had never been treated with betamethasone."

Medina Spirit is not the first Baffert horse to test positive for betamethasone in recent years. Another, Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine , was disqualified from a third-place finish in the 2020 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill after testing positive for the medication. The KHRC fined Baffert $1,500 after that finding.

In that case, Baffert did not dispute her treatment with the drug. Robertson said she was injected with betamethasone 18 days before the Oaks, outside the 14-day withdrawal guideline, but it still triggered a positive test result.