Proposed Recommendations Made in Medina Spirit Appeal

Attorneys for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, trainer Bob Baffert, and owner Amr Zedan tendered proposed orders in the Medina Spirit appeal on Dec. 22,  leaving a hearing officer's recommendation as the next step in the prolonged dispute over stewards' disqualification of the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).

A positive test finding for betamethasone led to Medina Spirit's disqualification and a 90-day suspension and $7,500 fine imposed on Baffert. Baffert and Zedan appealed, and a six-day hearing was held in August. Hearing officer Eden Davis Stephens will recommend whether or not the stewards' ruling should be followed. The full commission is free to accept or deny that recommendation.

Baffert and Zedan's submission was made jointly. Their summary of proposed fact findings and conclusions of law would have Stephens rule, among other things, that the lawful use of Otomax, an ointment containing betamethasone, led to a positive test for the drug that does not violate Kentucky regulations. Betamethasone is a corticosteroid that has an anti-inflammatory effect.

Their tendered findings recite there is no evidence the medication came from an injection; that Otomax was used to treat a rash for the benefit Medina Spirit's benefit; that the amount of betamethasone present could not affect his performance or endanger him; that KHRC unlawfully subdelegated rulemaking authority to a testing laboratory; that Kentucky's zero-tolerance rule for betamethasone is arbitrary; and that even if a trainer violation is found, Medina Spirit's disqualification should be vacated.

KHRC's proposed findings cite a prior series of drug positives from Baffert's stable and his awareness of Kentucky's betamethasone prohibition following a positive in Gamine after the 2020 Kentucky Oaks; that Baffert admitted "his recent medication positives had negatively affected horse racing;"  that Baffert didn't follow up on a 2020 pledge to tighten up management of his stable; and that he instructed staff not to use betamethasone.

The KHRC set of findings would indicate Baffert said he was unaware Otomax contains betamethasone valerate; that considerably more Otomas was applied by a groom than was prescribed by veterinarian Dr. Vince Baker; and that Baffert when told about the positive test by chief steward Barbara Borden during a recorded telephone call "spontaneously asserted that his barn did not use any ointments" and that the trainer told sports radio host Dan Patrick, "No one that handled the horse . . . had any creams or anything like [that]."

According to the KHRC filing, when Borden told Baffert a veterinarian would search his barn for anything containing betamethasone Baffert said, "There's no way. We are not that stupid. We are not that stupid."

A significant ask by the KHRC tender would exclude from evidence testimony by Dr. George Maylin, head of New York's equine testing lab and star witness for Baffert, who said the betamethasone positive came from Otomax. KHRC posits the conclusion is not relevant because the route of administration is not differentiated in regulations and because Maylin's testing method is one-of-a-kind and neither published nor peer-reviewed.

The tender by Baffert and Zedan concludes by saying the hearing officer should find the medication positive was "the unintended result of an expressly permitted ointment, and that such low levels of the medication would not have endangered the horse or affected its performance. Under these circumstances, the presence of betamethasone was not a violation of KHRC regulations."

According to the KHRC filing, Dr. Steven Barker, who testified for Baffert, "later confirmed that the amount of betamethasone found in Medina Spirit's blood...is consistent with the amount typically found three days after an injection." Baffert and Zedan emphasize there is no evidence proving Medina Spirit received a betamethasone injection.