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On Monday, 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was formally stripped of that victory and coach Bob Baffert was suspended for 90 days, given a $7,500 high quality, and made to forfeit all purse cash from the win by the Kentucky Horse Racing Fee after the horse examined optimistic for the steroid betamethasone final Might.
Later within the day, Clark Brewster, an lawyer for Baffert, introduced in an announcement he’ll enchantment the ruling.
“We’re disenchanted by the Fee’s ruling, however not shocked,” Brewster stated, based on Paulick Report. “This ruling represents an egregious departure from each the details and the regulation, however the quite a few public statements by KHRC officers during the last a number of months have made completely clear that Bob Baffert’s destiny was determined earlier than we ever sat down for a listening to earlier than the three stewards, one in every of whom is instantly employed by Churchill Downs because the racing director at Turfway Park. We’ll enchantment, and we’ll prevail when the details and guidelines are offered to indifferent, impartial decisionmakers.
“The Kentucky Guidelines of Racing, KHRC Rule 8:020-2, regulates solely ‘betamethasone acetate’ ‘through IA [intra-articular joint] administration’ and prohibits its use provided that that injection occurred inside 14 days of the race.
“The Kentucky Guidelines of Racing, Rule 8:010, Part 4, expressly permits trainers to manage ointments containing betamethasone beneath a rule captioned ‘Sure Permitted Substances,’ which states that ‘ointments . . . and different merchandise generally used within the day by day care of horses could also be administered by an individual, aside from a licensed veterinarian if’: (1) The remedy doesn’t embrace any drug, treatment, or substance in any other case prohibited by this administrative regulation; (2) The remedy shouldn’t be injected; and (3) The particular person is appearing beneath the route of a licensed coach or veterinarian licensed to observe veterinary medication in Kentucky and licensed by the fee.”
As famous by The Related Press (h/t ESPN), Baffert admitted to treating Medina Spirit with a topical ointment that contained betamethasone after a take a look at discovered that 21 picograms of the steroid have been within the horse’s physique. Churchill Downs suspended Baffert for 2 years and, following Monday’s growth, named second-place Mandaloun because the winner of final yr’s Kentucky Derby. Mandaloun’s house owners will obtain the winner’s purse valued at $1.8 million.
Betamethasone is authorized in Kentucky however banned on race day.
“The unrefuted and undisputed details established on the listening to have been: (1) Medina Spirit was handled with an ointment, not an injection; (2) the hint quantity of betamethasone detected couldn’t have affected the horse in any method; and (3) the hint quantity of betamethasone detected couldn’t presumably have affected the end result of the race,” Brewster added within the launch.
“In different phrases, Medina Spirit would have gained with or with out the ointment as a result of it was irrelevant in each method. The stewards’ resolution to rob Medina Spirit of a victory he earned was not in accordance with the regulation however as an alternative represents biased, purposeful, and wrongful motion.”
Medina Spirit died of a suspected coronary heart assault after a exercise on Dec. 6.
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