Medina Spirit Stripped Of Derby Win, Bob Baffert Suspended, Fans And Gamblers React

• On Monday, Medina Spirit was stripped of its 2021 Kentucky Derby win.
• The horse’s trainer Bob Baffert was also suspended for 90 days.
• Read more news about sports here.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission announced on Monday that Medina Spirit, the 2021 Kentucky Derby winner, would have its victory taken away. The commission also announced that Medina Spirit’s trainer, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, will be suspended for 90 days and fined $7,500.

Second place finisher Mandaloun has now been declared the winner. The horse’s owners will now receive the $1.8 million winner’s purse. You, however, should not expect to be paid anything if you had Mandaloun on your betting slip.

After Medina Spirit failed a post-race drug test following the Kentucky Derby victory, Baffert said his suspension was a result of some sort of “cancel culture.”

Baffert then later claimed that Medina Spirit’s failed drug test was the result of a groom urinating in the horse’s stall after taking cough medicine.

These are things that he actually said.

Later, Baffert once again changed his story, claiming an anti-fungal ointment to treat a skin infection on Medina Spirit was the likely cause of the positive test. By then, gamblers’ patience had worn out.

Then, just to make matters even worse, Medina Spirit died suddenly of a heart attack after a training session less than a month after the Breeders’ Cup. It was the 75th horse to have died under Bob Baffert’s care and fans began calling for him to retire.

Is it time for Bob Baffert to stop training horses like Medina Spirit?

They won’t have to worry about that now, or at least for the next 90 days. Or for this year’s Kentucky Derby, which takes place on May 7th. And probably the Belmont Stakes as well, since it is on June 11th.

Seven-time Kentucky Derby winner Baffert now has the additional honor of training just the second horse in the 146 year history of the race to be disqualified for a banned substance.

Baffert’s attorney Craig Robertson told the Daily Racing Form, “We will be filing an immediate appeal.”

Naturally, horse racing fans, and gamblers, had thoughts on the punishments that were handed down on Monday.

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[ESPN]