Legendary trainer Bob Baffert will be allowed to race a horse at the 2025 Kentucky Derby. Churchill Downs announced on Friday that its suspension of Baffert is now rescinded, reports the Los Angeles Times.
The home of the Kentucky Derby announced that Baffert’s suspension was lifted after he posted a statement on social media taking responsibility for Medina Spirit’s positive drug test after the 147th race in 2021.
“I am responsible for any substance found in the horses that I train,” Baffert said in the statement, “and I have paid a very steep price with a three-year suspension and the disqualification of Medina Spirit’s performance.”
Baffert, a six-time Kentucky Derby winner, was suspended following the 2021 event after first-place finisher Medina Spirit tested positive for a corticosteroid called betamethasone. The drug is injected into joints to reduce pain and swelling.
Betamethasone is allowed up to a certain level in horse racing. But according to the drug exam results, Medina Spirit tested positive for 21 picograms of betamethasone – more than twice the amount permitted. The horse was disqualified, making runner-up Mandaloun the winner, and Baffert was issued a two-year suspension.
Despite the positive test results, Baffert insisted Medina Spirit had never been treated with betamethasone. However, another of his horses, Gamine, tested positive for the same substance after finishing third in the 2020 Kentucky Oaks. Gamine was disqualified and Baffert was fined $1,500.
Despite the results, Baffert insists Medina Spirit has never been treated with betamethasone. Yet another of his horses, Gamine, tested positing for the same substance after finishing third in last year’s Kentucky Oaks. Gamine was subsequently disqualified, purse money was taken away from the owners, and Baffert was fined $1,500.
Medina Spirit’s disqualification cost Baffert what would have been a record seventh Kentucky Derby win and kept him on the outside looking in for horse racing’s signature event.
The ban was extended to three years in 2023 when Churchill Downs felt that Baffert continued to be unwilling to accept responsibility for Medina Spirit’s positive drug test which demonstrated that he “cannot be trusted to avoid future misconduct.” His status was to be revisited after the suspension ended in 2025.
Baffert’s horses had also failed 30 drug tests during the previous 40-plus years, including four in a six-month period including the 2021 Derby. He’s the most successful trainer in American horse racing, with his horses winning seven Kentucky Derby titles and sweeping the Triple Crown events (the Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Preakness) twice in a five-year span from 2016-21.
He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 2009.
“We are satisfied that Mr. Baffert has taken responsibility for his actions, completed a substantial penalty and is committed to running in full compliance with the rules and regulations going forward,” Churchill Downs CEO Bill Carstanjen said in a subsequent statement.
“All parties agree that it is time to bring this chapter to a close and focus on the future,” the statement continued. “Mr. Baffert is welcome to return to any of CDI’s racetracks, including our flagship Churchill Downs Racetrack, and we wish him and his connections good luck in their future competitive endeavors.”
