NEW DAY, NEW STORY

Baffert Has Yet Another Excuse for Derby Winner’s Drug Test

Now he says an anti-fungal cream may be to blame.

Horse trainer Bob Baffert first blamed sabotage, then urine-soaked hay for Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit testing positive for the steroid betamethasone. Now he’s got another excuse: He says the horse was treated for dermatitis with an anti-fungal ointment that contained the betamethasone before the big race. The New York Daily News reports that even if that’s the case, Medina Spirit would still be disqualified if a second postrace sample is positive for the banned drug. Baffert—who has won the Kentucky Derby seven times but also been fined four times for failed tests in the last year—has been suspended by Churchill Downs until the investigation is completed. He blamed “cancel culture” for that.