LOUISVILLE – Almost all horse racing fans around the nation will be watching this afternoon’s Preakness Stakes so they can make a judgement about Medina Spirit.
The star-crossed colt won the Kentucky Derby, putting the exclamation point on a delightful story, only to have his victory put in doubt when an illegal medication was detected in his post-race urinalysis.
Billy Reed is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and the Transylvania University Hall of Fame. He has been named Kentucky Sports Writer of the Year eight times and has won the Eclipse Award three times. Reed has written about a multitude of sports events for over four decades and is perhaps one of the most knowledgeable writers on the Kentucky Derby. His book “Last of a BReed” is available on Amazon. Billy covered his 53rd Kentucky Derby for the NKyTribune. If the colt wins, his fans will claim vindication. But if he loses, and especially if he loses badly, most of the racing world will see it as proof that he needed the illegal medication to enhance his performance.
Mega-trainer Bob Baffert has denied any willful wrongdoing, but has admitted he used an ointment containing the illegal medication to treat a rash on the colt’s hindquarters.
So everything apparently depends on the testing of another half of the specimen. If that produces the same result, Baffert is cooked. But if it doesn’t, which is a distinct longshot, the white-mane trainer with the trademark dark glasses may find some redemption.
I haven’t written anything about the mess until now because (a) I’m terribly sad about it, (b) I’m terribly angry about it, and (c) I did not want to rush to judgment.
There’s something else, too. I have a conflict of interest, as do many in the media. I’ve known Baffert since he brought his first horse to the Derby in 1996, and I personally like him.
Picking up the torch from D. Wayne Lukas, he has been unfailingly accessible to the media. He gives interviews to just about every media person who shows up at his barn, whether they’re from the TV networks or the Podunk Herald.
So my inclination is to try to find an excuse, a way out, for Baffert. But I also admit it’s tough because of how rigid the rules of racing are.
Under the rules in Kentucky, if an illegal medication shows up in a post-race test, the trainer is guilty. Period. There is no wiggle room for explanations, excuses, or extraordinary circumstances.
In the case of Medina Spirit, the amount of the illegal medication was so minute that it apparently did not enhance his performance in the Derby. If that is so, common sense might say, “No harm, no foul,” and let the result that with no penalties except maybe a fine for Baffert.
But the rules of racing always trump common sense. If an illegal medication is detected, nothing else matters. The horse is disqualified whether it’s the Derby or a cheap claiming race.
Medina Spirit’s victory uplifted a troubled sport that badly needed it. The colt once sold at auction for $1,000, for heaven’s sake. His apparent victory in the Run for the Roses was Baffert’s seventh, breaking a tie with Ben A. Jones, and was the fourth for veteran jockey John Velasquez.
It was the stuff of dreams and fairy tales. And then it came crashing down hard on all concerned and the industry as a whole.
I’m still hoping there’s a way out for Baffert, but that’s unlikely to happen. Some of his clients already are leaving him. The stigma may force him into a premature retirement.
I hope Medina Spirit runs well in the Preakness. But trust me, whatever he does this afternoon at Pimlico in Baltimore, it will have little, if anything, to do with the sad events that have unfolded in Louisville.
Billy, thought of you often in the past two weeks, for all the reasons you carefully enunciated and the personal/professional emotions you revealed in this piece. Also read your following post about yesterday’s Preakness. Understand the sadness you feel about what this does to thoroughbred horse racing, now seemingly always in a state of fragility. There are seemingly many things wrong with this picture, among them Baffert’s reckless judgment, assuming his ethics are buttoned up, not necessarily a reasonable assumption any longer. The lack of allowing any room for a mistake in medication and/or the tiniest use of banned substances seemingly could benefit from another review, including the horses. But that’s further in the future. When that split sample comes back likely positive, there is no doubt what will happen, unfortunately as it must according to the rules.
Bob Baffert is a first-class person, a first-class trainer, who allowed some ointment that looked harmless to be applied to his horse. He has people working for him who should have known. Still Rombauer at 11 to 1 won the race and paid just north of $25. For across-the-board bettors, Medina Spirt placed 3rd, for $5 and change. Not so bad. But let’s get off Bob Baffert’s case. He might have made a judgment error, but have not each and every one of us made judgement errors?