Trainers Sean McCarthy and Tim Yakteen will take control of horses trained by Bob Baffert when the Hall of Fame trainer begins a 90-day suspension Monday for a 2021 medication violation found in Kentucky Derby first-place finisher Medina Spirit, Santa Anita officials said Saturday. McCarthy will care for a majority of the stable, while Yakteen will have a select group of candidates that are being prepared for the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6 and 7. McCarthy and Baffert did not return phone calls or text messages midday Saturday seeking comment. In late March, a small group of 3-year-olds were transferred from Baffert to Yakteen in advance of major stakes this weekend and on April 9. The group includes Messier, one of the top 3-year-olds in California, who is an intended starter in the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby on April 9; Doppelganger, who was entered in Saturday’s Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park; Adare Manor, a highly-regarded 3-year-old filly who is scheduled to run in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks on April 9; and Under the Stars, who won the Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in January. Last year, Churchill Downs officials banned Baffert from starting horses in the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks in 2022 and 2023 because of the medication violation. To gain qualifying points for those races, Baffert’s leading 3-year-olds had to be transferred to other trainers. :: Take your handicapping to the next level and play like a pro with free Formulator, DRF's premium data product Baffert’s attempt to gain a stay of the suspension was denied by a Kentucky Court of Appeals judge on Friday. Medina Spirit tested positive for the prohibited raceday medication betamethasone. Baffert has extensively fought the suspension since last year. In response to Baffert’s suspension originally issued by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, Santa Anita stewards Luis Jauregui, Will Meyers, and Kim Sawyer published a ruling of reciprocity on Saturday, stating that Baffert’s suspension will begin Monday and run through July 2. The dates coincide with the conclusion of the current Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, which runs through June 19, and the first two weeks of the Los Alamitos spring-summer meeting. Baffert can resume training in the weeks before the start of the Del Mar summer meeting on July 22. Yakteen, 57, is a former assistant to Baffert, who has had his own stable for 17 years. In recent years, his stable has been led by the recently retired Mucho Unusual, who won the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes for older fillies and mares on turf in September 2020. Yakteen trained Points Offthebench, the champion sprinter of 2013. Through Friday, Yakteen had 9 wins from 44 runners this year. McCarthy, 59, has had 5 wins from 19 starters this year, equaling his win total from 2021 when he had 57 starters. McCarthy trained Majestic Harbor, winner of the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita in 2014. McCarthy’s wife, Kim, is Baffert’s stable office manager. In July 2019, Sean McCarthy briefly disbanded his stable to work as an assistant for trainer Michael McCarthy, who is of no relation. The arrangement ended that fall. With the transfer of the Baffert horses, Sean McCarthy and Yakteen could have runners that were previously trained by Baffert in races at Santa Anita as early as Friday, the first day of racing after the suspension begins.