Medina Spirit

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) has denied trainer Bob Baffert's request for a stay of a 90-day suspension handed down to him earlier in the week for Medina Spirit (Protonico)'s betamethasone positive in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby. The KHRC also denied a stay of its decision to disqualify Medina Spirit from first place in last year's GI Kentucky Derby. The Louisville Courier Journal and the Daily Racing Form were among the first to report the story. In most circumstances, once a trainer or owner has appealed a racing...

In the long story of the breed, there has never been a week's work remotely approaching the one Mandaloun (Into Mischief) bids to complete in the desert on Saturday. It opened with his formal elevation as winner of America's most prestigious race; and could conclude with him banking the biggest prize anywhere on planet Turf.

In the long story of the breed, there has never been a week's work remotely approaching the one Mandaloun (Into Mischief) bids to complete in the desert on Saturday. It opened with his formal elevation as winner of America's most prestigious race; and could conclude with him banking the biggest prize anywhere on planet Turf. As has come to seem wearyingly inevitable, nobody imagines that the first leg of this dazing double was necessarily concluded by the disqualification of Medina Spirit (Protonico). We proudly advertise the GI Kentucky Derby as...

Zedan Racing's Medina Spirit (Protonico), first across the wire in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby but officially disqualified this week, will be laid to rest at Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement farm near Georgetown, Kentucky. Old Friends made the announcement Friday morning. An open house, which will be open to the public, will be held Tuesday, Apr. 5, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Medina Spirit died Dec. 6 after a workout at Santa Anita. His ashes will be interred in Old Friends's Nikki Bacharach Memorial Garden. "The Zedan Racing...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia--Amr Zedan has a runner in the world's richest race staged Saturday in his home country of Saudi Arabia. The Bob Baffert-trained Country Grammer (Tonalist), whom he part-owns with WinStar Farm and Commonwealth Thoroughbreds, was not however the horse he had hoped to be running. Zedan's original intention was for Medina Spirit (Protonico) to be lining up in the country from which his name is derived, but the horse who finished first past the post in the last year's Kentucky Derby collapsed and died in December. On Monday...

Edited Press Release Pursuant to California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Rule 1846.6, a Postmortem Examination Review (PER) was completed on the sudden death of Medina Spirit. This process takes place for every fatality occurring at a CHRB regulated facility and is performed by a team consisting of an Official Veterinarian, a safety steward, and a member of the Board of Stewards--in this case, Dr. Alina Vale, David Neusch (safety steward), and Kim Sawyer (steward). In all cases, the PER panel strives to learn the circumstances surrounding the fatality, which involves...

Monday's ruling by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) that disqualified Medina Spirit from the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby has now triggered dueling letters to the federal judge overseeing the class-action case in which a group of bettors are suing trainer Bob Baffert for allegedly engaging in a years-long pattern of racketeering based on his purported "doping" of Thoroughbreds. The plaintiffs in the case, led by Michael Beychok, the winner of the 2012 National Horseplayers Championship, on Feb. 22 filed a letter in United States District Court (District of New...

This week, 296 days after the race was run, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission ruled on the case of the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby, officially disqualifying winner Medina Spirit (Protonico) and elevating Mandaloun (Into Mischief) into first place. Additionally, the KHRC suspended trainer Bob Baffert for 90 days and Baffert's legal team quickly promised appeals to an administrative law judge. Bob Heleringer, a lawyer, law professor and the author of "Equine Regulatory Law", joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Tuesday as the Green Group Guest of the Week...

Bob Heleringer has made a career out of the practice of equine regulatory law, and appears on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast to discuss the Medina Spirit case with the writers.

Every week, the TDN publishes a roundup of key official rulings from the primary tracks within the four major racing jurisdictions of California, New York, Florida and Kentucky. Here's a primer on how each of these jurisdictions adjudicates different offenses, what they make public (or not) and where. California Track: Santa Anita Date: 02/18/2022 Licensee: Jonathan Wong, trainer Penalty: $500 fine Violation: Late declaration Explainer: Trainer Jonathan Wong, who was scheduled to start She Said Yes in the third race at Santa Anita Park on Feb. 13, 2022, is fined...

Dan Ross's article from Sunday, February 20 highlighting the many unanswered questions regarding provisions of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) should concern anyone who cares about American racing. For an entity which many are expecting to be vitally important to the future of the sport, it has left much to be desired in the way of its public communications. Just shy of four months from launch, the lack of answers to a major industry publication should concern anyone involved in, or subject to, the new organization. Transparency is...