#Bob Baffert Claims Cancel Culture

[bbcbreakingnews]

Bob Baffert admits Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failed blood test due to ‘antifungal steroid’

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was treated with an antifungal ointment containing the steroid betamethasone that caused the horse to fail a postrace drug test, trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday.

In a statement issued by his lawyer, Baffert said Medina Spirit was treated for dermatitis with the ointment once a day leading up to the May 1 race and that equine pharmacology experts have told him this could explain the test results. 

Baffert said the horse tested positive for 21 picograms of the substance, which is typically given to horses therapeutically to help their joints and is a violation even at a trace amount on race day in Kentucky.

Regardless of the reason, Medina Spirit would be disqualified from the Derby if a second round of testing shows the presence of betamethasone.

‘My investigation is continuing, and we do not know for sure if this ointment was the cause of the test results, or if the test results are even accurate, as they have yet to be confirmed by the split sample,’ Baffert said. ‘I have been told that a finding of a small amount, such as 21 picograms, could be consistent with application of this type of ointment.’

Baffert said at a news conference Sunday at Churchill Downs that he did not know how the substance made its way into the colt’s system.

Lawyer Craig Robertson said the plan is still for Medina Spirit to run in the Preakness on Saturday. The Preakness post position draw is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Preakness officials said they were reviewing the facts before deciding on Medina Spirit’s entrance. Robertson told The Associated Press he planned to file a restraining order to prevent the Preakness from barring Medina Spirit if that was the decision that was made.

Medina Spirit is currently a 7-2 favorite in the Preakness as Mandaloun and several other top competitors will not be running in Baltimore. Baffert said Monday that he will not attend the second leg of the Triple Crown to avoid being a distraction. 

Baffert on Monday blamed ‘cancel culture’ for his situation with Medina Spirit. 

‘I know when Churchill Downs came out with that statement, that was pretty harsh,’ Baffert continued, referring to the Kentucky race track’s decision to suspend him on Saturday after one of Medina Spirit’s blood samples was found to contain a prohibited amount of the anti-inflammatory drug, betamethasone.  

‘With all the noise going out, we live in a different world now. This America is different. It was like a cancel culture kind of a thing. So they’re reviewing it. I haven’t been told anything. We’re prepared to run [in Baltimore on Saturday].’ 

Medina Spirit is Baffert’s fifth horse known to have failed a drug test in just over a year, but the California-based trainer is insisting that he and his horse are the victims of an ‘injustice.’

‘How do I move forward from this, knowing that something can happen?’ Baffert asked. ‘It’s a complete injustice, but I’m going to fight it tooth and nail, because I owe it to the horse, I owe it to the owner, and to our industry.

‘We’re going to do a complete investigation, our own investigation, we’re going to be transparent with the racing commission, like we’ve always been.’ 

Baffert’s barn received word Saturday that Medina Spirit had tested positive for an excessive amount of betamethasone – the same drug that was found in the system of Gamine, another Baffert-trained horse who finished third in the Kentucky Oaks last September. Gamine was eventually disqualified from that finish because of that test and Baffert was fined $1,500. 

Betamethasone is legal under Kentucky racing rules, though it must be cleared 14 days before a horse races. 

In his defense, Baffert first claimed to have records proving that Medina Spirit was never treated with that particular anti-inflammatory drug.  

‘One thing about it, in California, everything is documented every day, what the horses get,’ he said. ‘This horse was never treated with that. He’s a great horse. He doesn’t deserve this. He ran a gallant race.’ 

Speaking with reporters on Sunday, Baffert suggested that Medina Spirit is the victim of a nefarious plot.

‘There’s something wrong right now,’ Baffert said. ‘I’ve been talking about it, nothing seems to be done about it, but these contamination levels — and I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I know everybody’s not out to get me, but there’s definitely something wrong. Why is it happening to me? There’s problems in racing, but it’s not Bob Baffert. I just want to get that across to you guys.’

When asked to specify his allegations, Baffert declined to go into further detail.

‘I’m not going to speculate,’ he said. ‘I have no idea where it came from. We don’t know. We can’t believe it’s in there. The process has to start. We’re going to investigate it thoroughly. That’s all I can tell you on that?’

The track said failure to comply with the rules and medication protocols jeopardizes the safety of horses and jockeys, the sport’s integrity and the Derby’s reputation.

‘Churchill Downs will not tolerate it,’ the statement read. ‘Given the seriousness of the alleged offense, Churchill Downs will immediately suspend Bob Baffert, the trainer of Medina Spirit, from entering any horses at Churchill Downs Racetrack.’

EXPLAINER: DERBY WINNER’S FAILED TEST IS HORSE RACING’S LATEST DOPING SCANDAL

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failed a postrace 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 limits 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 far-ranging 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.

The Racing Medication & Testing Consortium says betamethasone is ‘a potent, long-acting, synthetic glucocorticoid widely used in equine veterinary medicine as a steroidal anti-inflammatory.’ 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. WHY DID MEDINA SPIRIT FAIL THE DRUG TEST?  

A. Betamethasone is a Class C drug that is allowed in Kentucky as a therapeutic. But Medina Spirit’s test results postrace violates Kentucky state law that limits the use of the steroid to 14 days or more before a race.

The penalty for a first offense for a trainer is a fine of at least $1,000, without mitigating circumstances. This would be Baffert’s second betamethasone violation in under a year after Gamine.

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 Park in Arkansas last year, 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 remain the winner of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby after the horse was found in postrace 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 postrace 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, either clearing the record or leading to a DQ.

The plan as of Monday was for Medina Spirit and Baffert’s Concert Tour to travel to Baltimore for the Preakness. Baffert said he wouldn’t be going to Baltimore, with assistant Jimmy Barnes saddling the horses if they run in the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

Preakness officials say they will decide on Medina Spirit’s entry after reviewing the facts and pushed the post position draw back to Tuesday afternoon.

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. Dancer’s Image in 1968 is the only previous Derby winner to be DQ’ed after the fact for failing a postrace drug test, in that case for the presence of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug phenylbutazone.

Q. WHAT EFFECT WOULD THERE BE ON BETTORS IF THE HORSE IS DISQUALIFIED?

A. Unlike when 2019 Kentucky Derby winner Maximum Security was disqualified for impeding other horses and Country House elevated to first, bettors won’t be affected either positively or negatively if Medina Spirit’s victory is invalidated.

Because the race was deemed official, no betting money will change hands one way or the other for those who had Medina Spirit or Mandaloun winning the Derby. Never mind the potential payout of what the superfecta would have been for the first four horses to finish: 27-1 Mandaloun, 6-1 Hot Rod Charlie, 3-1 favorite Essential Quality and 42-1 long shot O Besos.  

– The Associated Press  

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source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/bob-baffert-admits-kentucky-derby-winner-medina-spirit-failed-blood-test-due-to-antifungal-steroid/

[krill-joy]

background: ok, so bob baffert, a big wig race horse trainer, is claiming that his horse is a victim of cancel culture. his horse won the kentucky derby then failed a post-race drug tests. mr. baffert is claiming that the horse ate some hay that was pissed on by a jockey who had consumed cough syrup.

this is objectively funny.

the boring take on this- wow, the term cancel culture really is a meaningless catch-all, isn't it?

the better take- this is the new and only definition of cancel culture. this specific instance. and anytime anyone claims they are a victim of cancel culture, what they mean is "who among us hasn't accidentally eaten some hay that a robotripping jockey pissed on?"

[id: photo of sharon osbourne next to a photo of piers morgan with the text "sharon and piers newest victims of" the following text is blacked out and replaced with "eating some hay that a cough syrup-fueled jockey pissed on" /end id]

[junker-town]

Bob Baffert’s excuses somehow make Medina Spirit’s failed drug test even more suspicious

Getty Images

Baffert is using every excuse in the book.

The horse racing world was stunned this weekend as legendary trainer Bob Baffert was suspended by Churchill Downs after Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failed a post-race drug test. Baffert, who claimed his seventh derby win earlier this month, is now under fire following the New York Times report on the colt’s failed test. Horses trained by Baffert have reportedly failed five tests in the last year.

In response Baffert is in the middle of a damage-controlling media blitz, which has become more hilarious than anyone thought possible. It began with a refrain that has become all too common in recent months: Blaming backlash over potentially drugging horses to gain a competitive edge on “cancel culture.”

Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. "We live in a different world now. This America's different." pic.twitter.com/bsQeiV7oXi

— Mediaite (@Mediaite) May 10, 2021

This remarkable self-own ostensibly positions Baffert and saying “drugging horses is fine, y’all are just too sensitive about it.” That is, unless he has a different definition of “cancel culture” as everyone else. Baffert has been training horses since 1979, largely without issue, only recently being called out on the possibility he’s been injecting his horses with illicit steroids to create winners. Over the span of his four decade career a total of 30 horses have registered positive drug tests on Baffert’s watch, with four in the last year.

A 2018 incident in Santa Anita was dismissed as “feed contamination” after Triple Crown winner Justify tested positive for increased levels of scopolamine, a motion sickness drug. Then in 2020 the case of two horses that returned positive tests for lidocaine in Arkansas, both trained by Baffert, were similarly dismissed. This time after it was believed the medicine was accidentally transferred from an assistant trainer using the drug themself.

Medina Spirit’s positive test is shining a new light on these past issues, and the trainer is not happy. Baffert’s Churchill Downs suspension is pending a full investigation, but rather than letting the process play out, Baffert is on the attack. This time pinning the blame on “cancel culture” and rampant unchecked stable urination.

Baffert says one test issue was created by a groom urinating in the stall after the groom had been taking cough medicine. Horse ate some of the hay.

— rickbozich (@rickbozich) May 10, 2021

Time will tell if eating pee hay is indeed a plausible reason why horses would return positive tests, but Baffert sure wants you to think so. In fact, he’s even used this exact same excuse before.

Baffert has argued this before. In July of 2020, his horse Merneith tested positive for dextorphan after a second place finish at Del Mar. Baffert appealed the positive test claiming that an employee was taking cough medicine that accidentally contaminated the horse. https://t.co/POapre0zHL

— Dalton Godbey (@DaltonTVNews) May 10, 2021

Personally, if I were a billionaire race horse owner I wouldn’t be thrilled with the idea that the trainer I hired was having my horses eat pee hay, but I digress.

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit tested positive for elevated levels of betamethasone, a common steroidal treatment for arthritis in horses. However, Baffert claims the horse was never treated with the drug — raising questions about how it got in its system. An independent investigation is underway, but Baffert wants you to know that despite there being issues in horse racing, the issue is not him. “There’s problems in racing. But it’s not Bob Baffert,” Baffert said.

However, there does seem to be an issue. The recent positive test of Medina Spirit comes less than a year after Baffert himself vowed to have stricter procedures in place to avoid positive tests arising under his watch.

“I am very aware of the several incidents this year concerning my horses and the impact it has had on my family, horse racing and me,” Mr. Baffert said in a statement. “I want to have a positive influence on the sport of horse racing. Horses have been my life, and I owe everything to them and the tremendous sport in which I have been so fortunate to be involved.”

The outcome of wider testing may not be available for several weeks, throwing the entire Triple Crown process into disarray. Baffert is vowing to run two horses at the Preakness, regardless of what Churchill Downs plans to do, and has no intentions of stopping Medina Spirit from running, either this weekend, or at the Belmont in four weeks.

The recent investigation could strip Medina Spirit of the 2021 Kentucky Derby victory, making it the third horse in the race’s history to win and be stripped of the title. If that should occur then second place Mandaloun would be named champion.