Medina Spirit Stewards' Hearing Scheduled for Feb. 7

More than eight months after Bob Baffert-trained Medina Spirit  failed a post-race drug test after finishing first in the 2021 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), Kentucky stewards are expected to conduct a hearing to consider any sanctions against the trainer.

The information on the hearing date came out during testimony Jan. 27 before a New York hearing officer who is considering a New York Racing Association effort to ban Baffert from its tracks for a period of time—a move that started after the failed Derby post-race test.

While questioning Baffert during Thursday's hearing, Henry Greenberg, serving as counsel for NYRA, referenced the Feb. 7 hearing in Kentucky. An attorney for Baffert, who was off camera in streaming coverage of the hearing, confirmed the date.

A source with knowledge of the situation who spoke on a condition of anonymity confirmed that the Feb. 7 hearing is scheduled to take place before the stewards, which is the standard starting point for such a case.

BloodHorse reached out to KHRC officials, who declined to comment.

Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit is at risk of disqualification from the Derby after his post-race test indicated the prohibited race-day presence of betamethasone, a corticosteroid. In addition to potential disqualification of the horse, Baffert could be fined and/or suspended by the stewards. The split sample corroborated the finding.

After initially saying when the first test result from the Derby was revealed that Medina Spirit was not treated with betamethasone, Baffert said in a May 11 statement that upon evaluation he believed the test finding came from an ointment used to treat a skin condition. That anti-fungal ointment is called Otomax, which contains betamethasone.

In an effort to provide evidence of the source of the betamethasone, as Baffert's legal team believes that could provide exculpatory or mitigating evidence, a sample was sent to Dr. George Maylin, director of the New York Equine Drug Testing and Research Laboratory.

The further testing in New York is one reason the case has been delayed. After receiving the sample in the summer, Maylin did not begin the follow-up testing until mid-November. In a Dec. 3 statement, Baffert attorney Craig Robertson said testing at the New York lab confirmed the betamethasone did not come from an injection.

Whether that finding of the source of the betamethasone will be in dispute—or even much matter as possible mitigating of exculpatory evidence—is unclear as KHRC officials have largely remained silent on the case. 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.

Baffert's attorneys feel otherwise, claiming that only betamethasone acetate—the specific type of betamethasone used in injections—is addressed and regulated in Kentucky rules. Otomax contains betamethasone valerate.

Wolsing made her comments at a court hearing that paved the way for the testing of the sample in New York. Franklin (Ky.) Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate granted Zedan Racing Stables and Baffert due process rights to conduct further testing of the sample in New York.

Medina Spirit died after a Dec. 6 workout at Santa Anita Park. That sudden death is being investigated by the California Horse Racing Board.

Should Medina Spirit be disqualified from his Derby victory, he would be the second horse taken down from victory in the classic because of a drug violation. Dancer's Image was disqualified from victory in 1968 after a urine sample came back positive for phenylbutazone.