Now what? New FAQ on Baffert-Medina Spirit stewards hearing

Now, where were we?

If it is a Monday in early February 2022, it must be time again to wait for racing stewards to pass judgment on whether the late Medina Spirit should keep his 2021 Kentucky Derby victory or be disqualified for failing a post-race drug test.

The meeting that was expected or supposed or alleged to take place last week is now scheduled for Monday. Or so it seems. If it happens, it will not be in public. If there is a result, it might come without notice. Maybe Monday. Maybe not.

Related: Attorney says Baffert’s KHRC meeting will be Monday.

Based in large part on reporting by Horse Racing Nation’s Matt Stahl early this month and an HRN interview Thursday with Baffert’s attorney Clark Brewster, here is what we know – and don’t know – about the latest chapter in the Medina Spirit odyssey.

Is there really a meeting this time?

According to Brewster and as first reported by the Lexington Herald Leader, the stewards assigned to the 2021 Derby by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission will hold a meeting Monday at 10:30 a.m. EST. HRN sent an email to KHRC spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts Pierre on Thursday evening asking if this was true. By Sunday afternoon there still was no response.

What happened to last week’s meeting?

According to Brewster, he had another matter that could not be moved, so he asked for and was granted a postponement from the date of Feb. 7 that had been penciled or inked or chiseled into calendars.

Where is the meeting?

Virtually, according to Brewster, it will be held via Zoom. Physically, he said, it will originate via the KHRC offices in Lexington, Ky. Brewster, who is based in Tulsa, Okla., said he and Baffert are flying to Lexington and will be together to present their side, although not in the same room as the stewards.

Who will participate in the meeting?

Presumably, chief state steward Barbara Borden, her associate Butch Becraft and Tyler Picklesimer, a steward appointed by Churchill Downs. On Baffert’s behalf, Brewster said he will present evidence and witnesses. The KHRC has not said who, if anyone, it may call to answer questions or present the other side.

What is the object of the meeting?

It will decide whether the result of the Kentucky Derby should stand or if Mandaloun and the rest of the field should be promoted over Medina Spirit. After winning the race last May 1, Medina Spirit failed a drug test when 21 trillionths of a gram of betamethasone were found in one one-thousandth of a liter of his bloodstream. Baffert confirmed this at his Churchill Downs barn May 9. Although the corticosteroid is legal, it must be completely out of a horse’s system at race time, according to Kentucky racing regulations.

What is the argument?

Baffert and his team say the betamethasone came from an Otomax-brand ointment used to treat a skin condition. They say Kentucky regulations cover betamethasone acetate, which is found in injections, and not betamethasone valerate, which is in the Otomax ointment. They also say this was proven in further testing they ordered last year in New York on Medina Spirit’s post-Derby urine sample. The question for stewards is whether that nuance is enough to let the results of the 2021 Derby stand.

What if the stewards rule in favor of Baffert?

Presumably, that is it. Medina Spirit still would be the 2021 Derby winner.

And … ?

Team Baffert presumably would call on Churchill Downs to withdraw its two-year ban of Baffert and his horses from its racetracks and stables. That also could mean horses from the Hall of Fame trainer’s stable would be eligible to qualify for this year’s Derby. So far, their qualifying points from 2021-22 Derby preps have been vacated. Those points conceivably could be restored.

However, none of that is certain. Churchill Downs said it issued its ban not only because of Medina Spirit’s positive test but also because Gamine, a filly trained by Baffert, tested positive for betamethasone and was disqualified from her third-place finish in the 2020 Kentucky Oaks.

What if stewards decide to disqualify Medina Spirit?

Then we have only just begun.

Although Brewster took a once-step-at-a-time stance in last week’s interview, he pointed out that Baffert would have 10 days to call on the KHRC to have an administrative law judge hear his appeal. Then the legal wheels could grind into lawsuits, complete with requests for restraining orders and injunctions.

Also, because the Gamine and Medina Spirit cases would amount to two strikes for what Kentucky considers a Class C medication violation, Baffert could get a 10- to 30-day suspension and/or a $1,500-$2,500 fine.

How might this affect the 2022 Kentucky Derby?

If Baffert gets a favorable ruling from Monday’s hearing, he could be right back in the Derby mix. Whether seven horses who were in his name would have their qualifying points restored from their top-four finishes in seven preps remains to be seen.

If Medina Spirit is disqualified, and if lawyers are unable to get the Churchill Downs ban set aside, Baffert could see his top 3-year-olds moved to other trainers who are eligible to qualify for and compete in the Derby and the Kentucky Oaks.

When would those horses have to be moved?

Theoretically, it could be as late as the last of the major preps April 9. Of the 11 horses Baffert has started in the Derby since the current qualifying system began in 2013, 10 finished in the top two of the 100-40-20-10 point preps. Baffert has long maintained that a horse needs to finish in the top two of one of those major preps to show he is a legitimate Derby horse. When reminded last year one of his horses could have qualified with a third-place finish in a 100-point race, Baffert said, “You need to run first or second, unless that third was a troubled trip.”

However, owners could get itchy and move their horses sooner, especially since the win-and-you’re-in preps start Saturday with the Risen Star (G2), a 50-20-10-5 points qualifier at Fair Grounds.

Most of Baffert’s horses who would have earned points are owned by a group that includes SF Racing, whose principals include Gavin Murphy and Tom Ryan; Starlight Racing, run by Jack Wolf; and Madaket Stables, which is operated by Sol Kumin. That group moved Barossa, who would have earned two points for his third-place finish in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), to trainer Rodolphe Brisset. In his first start for Brisset, Barossa was a distant second in a $100,000 allowance race Friday at Oaklawn.

When will we learn the ruling?

It depends on whether stewards make their decision immediately or sleep on it. Early this month a KHRC spokeswoman said the result would be posted “shortly” after a decision was made.

What are the courts of next and last resort?

Kentucky state law says a final order of the KHRC may be appealed to the state’s 48th Circuit Court in Franklin County. The next steps would be the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the Kentucky Supreme Court, federal judges and finally the U.S. Supreme Court. 

For what it is worth, it took more than four years – nearly 50 months, to be more precise – to decide that Forward Pass finally would be the winner of the 1968 Kentucky Derby after first-place finisher Dancer's Image was ruled to have failed a drug test.