Medina Spirit

Zedan Racing Stables, Inc., the owner of GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico), has been voluntary dismissed from a class-action federal lawsuit initiated by a group of horseplayers who want to collect damages from a purported years-long pattern of racketeering activity related to the alleged "doping" of Thoroughbreds by trainer Bob Baffert. Zedan Racing's founder is Amr Zedan. The dismissal "without prejudice" was filed by the plaintiffs June 23. Baffert, plus his incorporated racing stable, now remain as the only defendants in the suit, which was filed May 13...

Judge Thomas Wingate outlined the travel protocol to a New York lab Wednesday for the urine sample collected from Medina Spirit (Protonico) following his Kentucky Derby win last month, reported the Blood-Horse Wednesday. The Circuit Court Judge, who granted Amr Zedan's Zedan Racing and Bob Baffert the right to conduct further testing on the split sample, issued a temporary injunction Wednesday, outlining the flight plans, which will be funded by the plaintiffs. The judge, who stated that the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission retain five milliliters of the sample, ordered at...

Bob Baffert has filed suit in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, against the New York Racing Association charging violations under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution violating his right to due process. The suit was filed Monday by Baffert's attorney Craig Robertson. NYRA announced that it had suspended Baffert May 17, after it was revealed that Medina Spirit (Protonico) had tested positive for Betamethasone in the GI Kentucky Derby. The suit reads, "Specifically, Baffert maintains a right to rely upon and use his...

Having practiced law for more than 25 years, attorney Darrell Vienna has pretty much seen all there is to see when it comes to equine law, drug infractions, penalties and how racing commissions and courts interpret the rules. A former trainer based in California, he is renowned as one of the foremost experts in his field. So when it comes to the case of Medina Spirit (Protonico) and the positive test for betamethasone following the GI Kentucky Derby, his brain is well worth picking.  And Vienna has said that he...

Lawyers representing the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) and Bob Baffert squared off before Franklin Circuit County Judge Thomas Wingate Friday morning in a dispute over whether or not additional urine samples from Medina Spirit (Protonico) from the GI Kentucky Derby should be made available to the defendants' lawyers and, if so, in what quantity? The Baffert team has asked for an additional urine sample because it believes further testing can prove that the drug in question, Betamethasone, found its way into Medina Spirit through an ointment used to clear...

In a crowded and often fickle stallion landscape, one North American sire at Gainesway Farm has stood out above all the rest for over a decade strong now. He may not win the general sires title every year, but no stallion in this country has produced the consistent excellence of Tapit since he went to stud in 2005, and Saturday was yet another elite-level reminder when his champion son Essential Quality streaked across the wire as his remarkable fourth GI Belmont S. winner. Wednesday morning, Gainesway's director of stallion sales...

The connections of GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonic) have filed a civil complaint against the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) in an effort to force the agency to turn over the colt's post-race urine sample so it can be tested in a way that trainer Bob Baffert and owner Zedan Racing Stables, Inc., believe will prove that a betamethasone finding resulted from an ointment to treat a skin condition (Otomax) and not from an intra-articular injection. According to a June 7 filing in Kentucky's Franklin County Circuit Court...

Let's get one thing straight. Just because our community has weathered so many other storms, through 152 previous runnings of the GI Belmont S., nobody should be complacent that we can rely indefinitely on some inborn, imperishable flair for survival. Yes, this venerable race has endured even crises that penetrated the Turf like the tendrils of some pernicious bindweed rooted in the wider world. There was no Belmont in 1911 and 1912, because of anti-gambling laws; a couple of years later, it was being staged despite a world at war....

Following Wednesday's announcement from Churchill Downs Inc. that Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert would be banned for two years, the trainer was given the green light to run at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Monmouth Park. "The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club has made significant progress in equine safety and welfare over the last several years and compliance with medication policies is an important component of that progress," said a statement released by Del Mar. "In that regard, we continue to gather information, including regulatory processes, related to the matter involving...

For decades, Tom Durkin was the singular voice of Thoroughbred racing, not just from his perch in the announcer's booths at New York Racing Association tracks, but also on nationally-televised broadcasts, where he brought colorful life to so many of the iconic memories etched in racing fans' minds the world over. He has been less visible since stepping down from racecaller duties in 2014, but is still involved in the game, and he joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by JPMorgan Private Bank Wednesday morning as the Green Group Guest...

Churchill Downs Incorporated has suspended Bob Baffert for two years effective immediately through the conclusion of the Churchill 2023 spring meet. The suspension prohibits Baffert, or any trainer directly or indirectly employed by Bob Baffert Racing Stables, from entering horses in races or applying for stall occupancy at all CDI-owned racetracks. This decision follows the confirmation by attorneys represening Bob Baffert of the presence of betamethasone, a prohibited race-day substance, in Medina Spirit's (Protonico) bloodstream on the day of the 147th running of the GI Kentucky Derby in violation of...

According to Craig Robertson, the lawyer representing Bob Baffert, a second-post race test has confirmed that Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive for the prohibited corticosteroid betamethasone, which could lead to the horse being disqualified from this year's GI Kentucky Derby. In response, Churchill Downs Inc. banned Baffert for two years. "In response to the inquiries, this will acknowledge that the Medina Spirit split sample confirmed the finding of betamethasone at 25 picograms," Robertson said in a statement. "There is other testing that is being conducted, including DNA testing. We expect...