Trainer says Kentucky Derby-winner Medina Spirit is victim of 'cancel culture' after failed drug test

Bob Baffert.
(Image credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Medina Spirit is the latest victim of "cancel culture," the Kentucky Derby-winning horse's trainer argued Monday.

Churchill Downs, the site of the Derby, revealed Sunday that Medina Spirit had registered levels of an anti-inflammatory drug beyond Kentucky horse racing's legal limit in a post-race blood test. For now, Baffert, who holds the record for the most Derby wins in the sport's history, is suspended from entering horses at the track, and if the results are confirmed, he and Medina Spirit will be stripped of their victory.

Baffert thinks that would be unfair. During an interview on Fox News on Monday, he called Churchill Downs' statement "harsh," suggesting that they faced societal pressure to reach their decision. "We live in a different world now. This America is different ... it was like a cancel culture kind of a thing," Baffert said, without acknowledging that his horses have reportedly failed drug tests 29 other times over his four-decade career. Tim O'Donnell

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.