Baffert says Derby winner Medina
Spirit tested positive
Associated Press,
by
Gary B. Graves
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
5/9/2021 11:58:40 AM
LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Bob Baffert’s frustration was apparent as he tried to digest the latest positive drug test involving one of his prized thoroughbreds.This one involves Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, Baffert’s fifth horse to fail a drug test in a year, which the Hall of Famer vowed to fight “tooth and nail” in the latest doping scandal for horse racing and arguably the sport’s premier trainer.Flanked by his attorney Craig Robertson in a morning news conference at Churchill Downs on Sunday, Baffert said his barn was told that Medina Spirit was found to have 21 picograms of the steroid betamethasone, double the legal threshold in Kentucky racing, in a postrace sample.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
OBX Pete 5/9/2021 12:05:57 PM (No. 779902)
Baffert is too smart to be doping up the horses he trains. My guess is that some jealous owner or just some evil b@sterd is trying to disgrace him before the Preakness.
27 people like this.
In Kentucky it's legal to use in training but administered no later than 14 days prior to a race. It's for joint pain. Maybe someone didn't consult a calendar, or treated the wrong horse. Calling Sherlock Holmes!
10 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Ida Lou Pino 5/9/2021 12:48:44 PM (No. 779929)
Thoroughbred racing began committing slow-motion suicide - - when it became "pletcherized" about 20 years ago.
The best horses used to race 30 to 40 times in their careers - - building a rooting interest and an emotional attachment to their fans. But owners and trainers bought into the absurd theory of "spaced races" and "fresh horses" - - which treats these powerful animals as if they were china dolls. They now race 10 or fewer times in their careers - - being hidden away from the public for weeks or months at a time.
No one really knows - - or even worse, no one really cares - - who these horses are. Thoroughbred racing is still a betting proposition for addictive gamblers - - but it is no longer a real fan sport.
16 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
foxglove 5/9/2021 12:49:09 PM (No. 779930)
I was wondering the day of the race if that would be so. I suspect someone connected with the owner.
10 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
DVC 5/9/2021 12:54:47 PM (No. 779932)
Hmm. "found to have 21 picograms". Most dosages of drugs to humans are somewhere in the tens of milligrams, say a 25 or 50 mg dose of something, for a 150 lb human. For a 1500 lb horse, that would take 250 to 500 mg. of something to be a small dose. Some drugs are taken in gram amounts (1,000 milligrams) by humans.
A picogram is one billionth of a milligram.....in a 1500 lb horse. 21 trillionths of a gram in a 1500 lb horse.
21/1,000,000,000,000 of a gram.
This is as close to zero as any sane person could ever imagine. I am very skeptical that they found something that was real.
25 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
justavoter 5/9/2021 1:35:40 PM (No. 779970)
Hummm???? In horse racing, if you cheat and win, you are disqualified and the next best horse gets the prize. What a novel idea. The last time a Kentucky Derby was overturned by cheating was in 1968. I believe NASCAR applies the same rule. Like an illegal spoiler or such. Wonder if we applied the same concept to an Election. Say, the 2020 Presidential Select, ahem, Election? Hello Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
16 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
red1066 5/9/2021 1:42:31 PM (No. 779982)
None of the top horses that came in 2nd thru fourth at the Kentucky Derby will be at the Preakness. The horse that came in sixth will be there, but Medina Spirit should win again on a shorter track at Pimlico, that is if the horse isn't disqualified because of drugs. At this point, there may only be nine horses racing at the Preakness, and once again, the Preakness is the red headed step child of the triple crown.
3 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Zeek Wolfe 5/9/2021 1:44:31 PM (No. 779985)
I've been watched Medina Spirit run at Santa Anita in several races. I thought the horse was being held back and kept from winning. Lo and behold, come the Kentucky Derby the horse wins at odds of 12 to 1. Medina Spirit will not win another race and will be put to stud as a Kentucky Derby "winner." Gambling and stud work, that is where to big bucks are. So, there will be no Triple Crown winner this year and you still won't be able to see Bob Baffert's shifty eyes through his sunglasses. He has nice grey hair, for that he gets credit.
4 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
planetgeo 5/9/2021 2:24:18 PM (No. 780026)
Is Bob Baffert the Lance Armstrong of horse racing?
3 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
MrDeplorable 5/9/2021 2:54:24 PM (No. 780060)
#5, you failed to account for THREE important factors in your elegant mathematical exposition. First, that steroids exert their effects in exceedingly small concentrations. Second, even if the steroids gave the horse only a fraction of a second advantage, the difference between losers and winners in photo-finishes are fractions of a second. And third, that with every pass of Medina's Spirit's blood through the liver, roughly every minute, some substantial fraction of the foreign chemical, that is, the steroids, is removed, and so the test did not measure what was in his blood only minutes before, meaning he was much higher.
3 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
lakerman1 5/9/2021 3:31:30 PM (No. 780086)
I'm with #5 on this.
In fact, I have drawn and administered thousands and thousands of injections, as a USAF medic, and it is possible that the drug in question was drawn a tiny bit over the mark, when administered.
In addition, the rule might be silly - allowing a drug to be administered, and allowing some of that drug to be OK in passing a post race test.
3 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
udanja99 5/10/2021 9:18:05 AM (No. 780612)
Terrible sport. Terrible for the horses. I hope that the sport dies entirely and soon.
0 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
RayLRiv 5/10/2021 10:52:38 AM (No. 780724)
Bob Baffled. Says he didn't do anything wrong - at least the last five times during this last year.
0 people like this.
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