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Medina Spirit, the recent winner of the Kentucky Derby Horse Race, died tragically during practice on the morning of Monday, December 6. According to her trainer, Bob Baffert’s lawyer, the death was the result of a heart attack after training.
Medina Spirit was also previously embroiled in scandal after failing a drug test after the 2020 race.
In May of this year, Medina Spirit managed to win the Kentucky Derby a whole half-length ahead of her competitors with jockey John Velazquez. The $3 million Rune for Ruses win was the seventh in a row for trainer Bob Baffert.
The three-year-old horse was training with his trainer in Santa Anita Park when he collapsed shortly after. Baffert recently released a statement to Reuters expressing his sadness at what happened and explaining the circumstances that led to the death.
“Medina Spirit was a great champion, a member of our family loved by all, and we deeply mourn his loss.” the statement goes on to say. “My whole stable is devastated by this news. I will always cherish the proud and personal memories of Medina Spirit and his great spirit.”
News media have contacted the owner of Medina Spirit, Amr Zedan of Saudi Arabia, but he could not be reached through his lawyer immediately after the announcement.
Thoroughbred Daily News also reported the dark colt’s death with a comment from Zedan. In this report, Zedan stated: “All I can say is that he has given us the ride of our lives and brought everyone together. We mourn this loss, Bob (Baffert), myself, Johnny (Velazquez) and also our team. We are all very sad.”
Baffert, who has managed to build a reputation as one of the best horse trainers in the world, has recently come under scrutiny. In recent years it has been discovered that some of the horses in Baffert’s stables have tested positive for banned performance-altering substances.
Madina Spirit’s failed drug test after the 2020 Kentucky Derby registered 21 picograms of betamethasone in his post-race sample. This is above the legal limit for racing in Kentucky. As a result, Baffert earned a two-year suspension for racing at Churchill Downs.
Despite reports of a positive test in the Kentucky Derby, Medina Spirit was allowed to race in the Preakness Stakes in mid-May and came away with third place. However, he was not allowed to race in the Belmont Stakes, the last race of the Triple Crown in the United States.
Earlier this year, Baffert released a statement saying that Medina Spirit’s positive test result was actually the result of an antifungal ointment used to treat dermatitis called Otomax. One of Amr Zedan’s lawyers later confirmed this to be true after a split-sample test that confirmed the presence of a banned substance as a direct result of the ointment in question, not an injection.
Speaking to the New York Post about training horses at such a young age, an activist from the well-established anti-horse racing organization Horseracing Wrongs, Patrick Battuelo, explained that horses don’t fully mature until age six, showing their necks and backs. are the last thing to stop developing. However, race horses begin intense training at 18 months of age and often begin their first race at two years of age.
dr. Kraig Kulikowski, an equine veterinarian, testified before the New York State Senate in 2019, commenting on the horse racing health care system:
“The healthcare environment on the track is one of lawlessness on multiple levels…the question is never, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ but ‘What can we get away with?’”
He also explained to the Senate that horse trainers without any equine medical experience or training are able to overrule veterinarians when it comes to important issues in equine health care as an industry standard.
In addition, research released by Horseracing Wrongs, found through the use of Freedom of Information requests, has shown the seriousness of the situation, with an average of six racehorses dying daily (more than 2,000 per year). The organization Horseracing Wrongs is working on a nationwide ban on horse racing as soon as possible.
The California Horse Racing Board has responded to Medina Spirit’s death with the promise that a toxicology test and investigation will be conducted by a University of California lab to confirm the legitimacy of the heart failure claim.