Kentucky Derby Winner Fails Drug Test – IOTW Report

Kentucky Derby Winner Fails Drug Test

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Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit’s victory will be invalidated if it is upheld that the champion horse failed a drug test, Churchill Downs said Sunday.

Medina Spirit’s trainer Bob Baffert will be immediately suspended from entering any horses in races at Churchill Downs’ track “given the seriousness of the alleged offense,” said the statement from the company that runs the Derby. More

Bob Baffert Claiming That Medina Spirit’s Failed Drug Test Was Result Of Groom Taking Cough Medicine And Peeing On The Horse’s Hay Is Absurd

14 Comments on Kentucky Derby Winner Fails Drug Test

  1. Baffert seems to have a problem with his choice of grooms if this is the second time he’s blamed his drugged horses on them.

    You’d think he would have learned to be more careful the first time.

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  2. Trump sure jumped on this fast.
    I have no idea, I wonder though whether it is a really obvious violation or one where a trace of something got in somehow. I can’t imagine that there would be anything somewhere in the middle.

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  3. I read that the type of drug found can be absorbed through the skin. If they only found a trace, could it be sabotage? If they found a lot, probably not. Just hard to believe there is corruption in horse racing. s/

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  4. As a kid in the 50s I recall being hired to put white strips of sheets along bob-wire strains of fencing to keep drugged horses from going nuts and running blindly into them after being drugged for races at Saratoga NY. Also had to walk them for hours to help them calm down. Nothing new, it’s been going on for years.

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  5. The drug is used to alleviate joint pain, it is not a performance enhancer. A picogram is a trillionth of a gram. Medina Spirit supposedly had 21 picograms in his blood sample. They are sending the sample to another lab, and Bob Baffert has a brace of lawyers and veterinarians ready to fight his colt being disqualified, just like the last time he was accused of this problem. It’s like the last election, a totally screwed up suspicious mess, but we know who really won that race.

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  6. …you don’t need dope, you just need to do opposition research to win…

    I once read of a stallion that was bred and trained as a champion, and was incredibly fast in practice. With dollar signs in his eyes, the owner took him to the track for his first race.

    The horse was in the start gate next to a filly, and they nuzzled a bit before the start. True to expectations he ran swifter than the rest, but suddenly stopped at the finish line and refused to move until the filly crossed.

    Angry about this, the owner went down to have a talk with the horse (a less profitable talent this horse also had). “Horse, you had that race easily locked up, then you stopped. I lost a ton of money on you, and I wanna know WHY.

    The horse replied “Boss, I was doing it for you, really, but I was thinking about that tasty little filly I nuzzled with, and I started thinking she wouldn’t like me if I beat her, so I let HER win so I could score. I’ll try to do better next time.

    “See that you DO, or I’m gonna have you GELDED. We’ll get those thoughts out ONE way or another.”, and he stomped off.

    The next race, same thing happened. Filly, nuzzle, stop, lose. The owner said, “That’s IT, you’re getting GELDED”, and gave orders to the vet for it that very night.

    …A few weeks later, sans testicles, the horse was healed and trained back up, and was faster than ever. The owner went to see him and asked “do you still think about fillies?”

    The horse said “No boss. Those thoughts are gone, and I’m focused and gonna win this one for you,”

    The horses lined up in the gate, and sure enough, he completely ignored the fillies on both sides, no matter how enticingly they tossed their manes at him.

    Then the race started, and the horse sat immediately on the ground and was disqualified.

    .. Stomping down to the stable, the owner said “What the HELL was it THIS time? Why did you fall down?”

    …the horse said, “I didn’t mean to, Boss. This time, I was alert, I was focused, I wasn’t thinking about anything but winning this race for you. But then the gate opened and a guy on the speaker said, “AND, THEY’RE OFF!”, so I was SO mortified that I crossed my legs to hide it, and that’s why I fell down”…

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