Churchill Downs Inc. will prohibit the trainer Bob Baffert from entering any horses in races at any of its tracks for two years, the company said on Wednesday, following confirmation that Baffert’s horse Medina Spirit tested positive for the regulated corticosteroid betamethasone after the colt’s Kentucky Derby win at the company’s flagship track on May 1. The prohibition, which will prevent Baffert from running in the Derby until at least 2024, is being enacted under the company’s power of exclusion, a right given to private businesses so long as the bans do not violate protected rights, such as age, sex, or race. Racing licensees have challenged such bans in the past in civil courts with a mixed record of success. In a statement, Churchill cited Baffert’s “record of testing failures” for the ban. Last year, the Baffert-trained Gamine tested positive for betamethasone following a third-place finish in Churchill’s Kentucky Oaks the day before the Derby, one of four positive post-race tests for regulated medications in Baffert horses in 2020. Baffert did not contest the violation and was fined, and Gamine was disqualified. “Reckless practices and substance violations that jeopardize the safety of our equine and human athletes or compromise the integrity of our sport are not acceptable and as a company we must take measures to demonstrate that they will not be tolerated,” said the statement, attributed to Bill Carstanjen, the chief executive officer of Churchill’s parent company. “Mr. Baffert’s record of testing failures threatens public confidence in Thoroughbred racing and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby.” CDI owns Churchill Downs in Louisville, Arlington Park outside of Chicago, and Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orleans. The company has said that it is planning to sell Arlington this year for non-racing purposes. If the ban holds, it is likely to have a substantial impact on Baffert’s operations, considering that many owners send young colts his way in order to compete in the Derby and the other Triple Crown races, the most sure-fire way to make a stallion. Counting Medina Spirit’s win, Baffert has won the Derby a record seven times, and twice in the past six years he has won the Triple Crown, with American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. Mike Meuser, a Lexington, Ky., attorney who has been retained by Baffert to represent him in the Churchill legal matter, said on Wednesday afternoon that he had not decided what legal action to take, if any. “Obviously, we are just hearing about this, and we’ve got some things to look at as to what action we are going to take,” Meuser said. Baffert and Craig Robertson, the attorney advising Baffert on the Medina Spirit positive, have said that Medina Spirit was never injected with betamethasone, a commonly used anti-inflammatory drug, but that the colt may have tested positive due to the use of an ointment, Otomax, to treat dermatitis. The ointment contained betamethasone. The ban will be enforced through the end of the 2023 Churchill spring meet, and Churchill said in its statement that the company “reserves the right to extend Baffert’s suspension if there are additional violations in any racing jurisdiction.” Baffert is based in Southern California and stables primarily at Santa Anita Park, which is owned by 1/ST, the company formerly known as The Stronach Group. 1/ST also owns Pimlico Race Course, the home of the Preakness Stakes, and Gulfstream Park in Florida, where a large number of Triple Crown preps are run. This year, 1/ST worked out a deal allowing Baffert to start horses in the Preakness and several of its undercard stakes provided the horses tested clean prior to the races. The third track in the Triple Crown series, Belmont Park, has banned Baffert from participating in the Belmont Stakes this year. Belmont is operated by the New York Racing Association, which also operates Saratoga Race Course and Aqueduct. The private bans on Baffert are beginning to echo the drumbeat of criticism that surrounded the trainer Richard Dutrow 10 years ago as medication and other regulatory violations began to pile up for the controversial New York-based trainer. Dutrow was eventually banned by the New York racing commission in 2011 for 10 years for “actions detrimental to the interests of racing” based on his record of violations, but he did not begin serving the penalty until 2013 after he had exhausted all of his appeals.