Equibase Chart Update Lists Mandaloun as Derby Winner

Nearly three years after the actual race, the industry now recognizes the 2021 Kentucky Derby (G1) as official and Mandaloun  , who crossed the wire second, as the race winner following the disqualification of Medina Spirit.

Equibase awaits official word of disqualifications from state stewards before updating its results. On Feb. 26, Kentucky chief state steward Barbara Borden forwarded a ruling that the disqualification was official. With that ruling in hand, Equibase updated its chart Monday. 



Trainer Bob Baffert initially announced eight days after the Derby that Medina Spirit had failed a post-race drug test after the Derby, testing positive for betamethasone. The stewards soon would announce that finding and impose a disqualification of the horse campaigned by Amr Zedan and a 90-day suspension of Baffert.

Zedan and Baffert would appeal that decision at the regulatory level, a process that first saw a hearing by hearing officer in Kentucky to consider the case. That process was delayed when the first hearing officer, Clay Patrick, recused himself after Clark Brewster, an attorney representing Zedan, purchased a horse from Patrick at Keeneland. 

Patrick was replaced by a new hearing officer, Eden Stephens, who on May 26, 2023, upheld the stewards' decisions to disqualify Medina Spirit and sanction Baffert. Medina Spirit's connections then moved toward a court appeal before dropping that case, which officially was dismissed Jan. 25.

Juddmonte homebred Mandaloun is a son of multiple leading sire Into Mischief   and was trained by Brad Cox. Jockey Florent Geroux guided Mandaloun in the 2021 Derby.

This story has been updated; an earlier version listed an incorrect winning jockey.