Bob Baffert and his legal team have decisively won the public relations war over Medina Spirit’s Derby DQ. But they’re not likely to win in the courts.
Some nine months after, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has ruled that Medina Spirit be DQed from the 2021 Kentucky Derby.
Messier’s spectacular 15-length win in Sunday’s Robert B. Lewis Stakes earned the Bob Baffert trainee exactly zero Kentucky Derby points. Again.
The Bob Baffert-trained Newgrange was a game winner of the Southwest Stakes, which got him… well, no points towards the Kentucky Derby, because… Baffert.
There was controversy aplenty, and some locals human and equine made very good, indeed. Here are some of the top stories of 2021 in Maryland racing.
Medina Spirit, first past the post in the 2021 Kentucky Derby, suffered an apparent heart attack on the racetrack this morning at Santa Anita Park and died.
This Breeders’ Cup was the sport of Thoroughbred racing writ small. The humans at the top screw it up, and the horses redeem it. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Though he was installed as the morning line favorite, Medina Spirit will not race in the Pennsylvania Derby, trainer Bob Baffert said.
Bob Baffert won’t have a horse in the Belmont, but all anyone can talk about is Bob Baffert. It’s exhausting, and another whiff.
Bob Baffert has been ruled off all Churchill Downs properties for the next two years, the company announced.