Medina Spirit, who led from start to finish in the Kentucky Derby on May 1 to post a hard-fought half-length victory, tested positive for betamethasone, a regulated anti-inflammatory, after the race, according to his trainer, Bob Baffert, who acknowledged the test result Sunday morning during a press conference on the backside of Churchill Downs. Medina Spirit tested positive for “21 picograms” per milliliter of blood serum, according to Baffert, who was accompanied at the press conference by his attorney, Craig Roberston. Baffert said that Medina Spirit had “never” been administered the corticosteroid, and he vowed to fight the positive, which has not yet been confirmed through a split-sample test. “It’s disturbing,” Baffert said. “It’s an injustice to the horse.  . . .  I don’t know what’s going on in racing right now, but it’s not right. I don’t feel embarrassed, but I feel wronged.” Betamethasone, among a class of drugs known as corticosteroids, is a commonly administered medication to treat inflammation in joints. Over the past several years, racing regulators have expanded the withdrawal time for the drugs in order to address criticism over the use of the medications in racing and to ensure that the effects of the drugs do not impact the ability of regulatory veterinarians to detect unsoundness or lameness in pre-race exams. The current withdrawal guideline in Kentucky is 14 days. Kentucky began a process to eliminate threshold levels for corticosteroids last year, and Robertson, Baffert’s attorney, said on Sunday morning that the elimination had gone into effect prior to this year’s Derby, correcting a statement he made at the press conference that the limit was 10 picograms. He also said that stewards have not yet presented Baffert with a formal notification of the positive or a list of approved labs for split-sample testing. Baffert said that he has ordered DNA tests on the sample in order to confirm that the post-race sample came from Medina Spirit, as well as hair sampling in order to determine if betamethasone had been administered to the horse. He said that he would investigate the finding “thoroughly.” The positive test result is sure to explode coverage of racing and criticism of Baffert at a time when the trainer has been under fire for more than a year over a string of positive post-race tests – all for regulated medications – and at a time when the sport is attempting to get a better handle on its medication-control programs. In addition to the controversy involving Baffert over the past 12 months, the positive result was announced two years after Maximum Security, the favorite in the 2019 Derby, was disqualified from first place after stewards ruled that the horse interfered with other horses entering the stretch. :: Join DRF Bets and get ready to watch and wager on the Preakness with a $250 first deposit bonus  While most members of the general public and the outsized group of racing participants who are suspicious of Baffert will treat the positive as an indication of cheating, many horsemen and regulators will instead place the blame on what they consider endemic problems in how the racing industry handles commonly used medications, including what those critics characterize as poorly researched withdrawal times and thresholds set so low that laboratories catch the presence of regulated drugs well after they could have had any impact on a horse’s performance or through accidental contamination. “I do not feel safe training,” Baffert said, referencing the views of many horsemen about recent positives for regulated medications. “It’s getting worse, to me. How do I enjoy, how do I move forward as a trainer knowing this can happen? It’s a complete injustice, and we’re going to fight it tooth and nail.” Two hours after Baffert acknowledged the positive test, Churchill Downs released a statement saying that “given the seriousness of the offense,” the track would prohibit Baffert from entering any of his horses at Churchill. The statement went on to say that the track “will await the conclusion of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's investigation before taking further steps.” “Failure to comply with the rules and medication protocols jeopardizes the safety of the horses and jockeys, the integrity of our sport, and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby and all who participate,” the statement said. “Churchill Downs will not tolerate it.” Churchill declined a request from DRF to respond to questions about the decision. Racetracks have a long-established right to exclude persons from their facilities as long as the decision is not based on protected rights, such as race and sex. However, courts have, in some circumstances, issued temporary restraining orders on tracks that have banned individuals, citing the trainer’s right to due process. “Very disappointing,” said Robertson, via text. “This is a rush to judgment before we even have a split sample back. There is something called due process which is clearly being violated here.” Robertson said that he had "just got the news" about the Churchill decision and that he had not made a decision yet as to whether to seek a temporary restraining order. The decision by Churchill could have a ripple effect on the other racetracks that hold Triple Crown races. While Baffert said that Medina Spirit and another horse he trains, Concert Tour, would be vanned to Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course, the site of the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, on Monday afternoon, Pimlico is a member of a coalition with Churchill that has pledged to act to improve the public perception of racing. So is Belmont Park, which hosts the third leg, the Belmont Stakes. Later on Sunday, the Maryland Jockey Club, the company owned by 1/ST that operates Pimlico, said that it “intends to review the relevant facts and information relating to the reported medication positive” of Medina Spirit, but the statement stopped short of prohibiting the horse’s entry in the Preakness, at least for now. “We are consulting with the Maryland Racing Commission and any decision regarding the entry of Medina Spirit in the [Preakness] will be made after a review of the facts,” the statement said. The Maryland Jockey Club announced Sunday that it was delaying the Preakness post-position draw from Monday afternoon to 4 p.m. Tuesday. Kentucky stewards, like those in other racing states, do not announce drug positives until a split-sample has confirmed the result, a process which usually takes three to four weeks, if not longer. Given the rumors that were being circulated on the backside over the past 24 hours, Robertson and Baffert made the decision to go public with the result in order to face the rumors head-on, Baffert said. “People knew about it before I found out,” said Baffert, who said that he was informed by his assistant, Jimmy Barnes, about the positive on Saturday afternoon. “That’s very disturbing. I’m still trying to absorb it.” Given the prestige of the Derby and the scope and depth of the post-race testing for the race, any attempt to treat a horse in the Derby with a known substance could be considered ludicrous. Derby post-race samples are subjected to the most rigorous and wide-ranging assays of any race in the country, and the drug found in Medina Spirit’s post-race sample is a known substance that is easily found. “I know I’m the most scrutinized trainer out there,” Baffert said. “I have millions of eyes on me. . . . The last thing I would want to do is do something that would jeopardize the greatest two minutes in sport.” Unlike in many previous years, Medina Spirit was the only Derby entrant for Baffert, who had several top Triple Crown contenders knocked off the Derby trail earlier this year due to injury. Medina Spirit, who had come into the Derby off a second-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby, was 12-1, a shortened price that likely reflected Baffert’s six previous Kentucky Derby victories. As in all states, Kentucky uses the “absolute insurer” rule as a backstop for all post-race positives. The rule, which has been weakened by several cases in the past decade and by the addition of provisions allowing for “mitigating circumstances” in many rulebooks, holds a trainer responsible for the condition of the horse at the time post-race samples are drawn, regardless of fault. Kentucky stewards have not adjudicated a Derby positive since Dancer’s Image tested positive for phenylbutazone, a painkiller, following his victory in the 1968 race. That case took four years to fully adjudicate, but Dancer’s Image was ultimately disqualified from the victory. The horse’s owner, Peter Fuller, a New Englander, had acknowledged that Dancer’s Image had received the drug six days prior to the Derby to treat sore ankles, but he repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the horse was given an additional dose of the drug near race time by unidentified actors who wanted to tarnish Fuller’s efforts to advocate for civil rights. :: DRF's Preakness Headquarters: Contenders, latest news, past performances, analysis, and more Regardless of the circumstances of the Derby positive, Baffert will continue to face questions over the operation of his barn and his record. Six months ago, just prior to the 2020 Breeders’ Cup event, Baffert released a statement through his lawyer pledging to “raise the bar and set the standard for equine safety and rule compliance” following four positive tests for regulated medications in 2020. Two of those positive tests came after performances by Baffert-trained horses in Grade 1 races, the Arkansas Derby and the Kentucky Oaks. Just weeks prior to this year’s Derby, the Arkansas Racing Commission modified the penalties for the Arkansas Derby result and another positive in a Baffert-trained horse the same day at Oaklawn Park, invalidating a 15-day suspension for Baffert and the disqualifications of the two horses. Baffert had argued in his appeal of the penalties that the drug that was found in the horses, lidocaine, was the result of accidental contamination and that the amount found in the horses’ systems had no impact on their performances. In the amended ruling, Baffert was fined $5,000 for each positive. The Kentucky Oaks positive was detected in Gamine, an eventual champion, after the filly’s third-place finish in the race. Gamine, who also tested positive for betamethasone, was disqualified, and Baffert was fined $1,500. Baffert and his attorney had argued that the horse was administered the corticosteroid 18 days prior to the race, outside the 14-day withdrawal guideline. Baffert did not appeal the ruling. Just after Gamine tested positive, another horse trained by Baffert, Merneith, tested positive for dextorphan, an anesthetic that is a common ingredient in cough suppressants, after a second-place finish in the race on July 25 at Del Mar. Baffert has appealed the positive, claiming that a stable employee was taking cough suppressants and inadvertently contaminated the horse. The drug is within the Class 4 categorization, a class of drugs that “may influence a horse’s performance” but that also are less potent than other drugs, according to classification guidelines. – additional reporting by Marty McGee