Baffert horses cleared for Preakness weekend

Medina Spirit and two other horses trained by Bob Baffert have cleared pre-race drug tests that were a requirement of the horses being allowed to run this weekend at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, the owner of the track said on Friday.

Samples that were pulled on May 10 and May 11 and tested at two separate laboratories came back negative for all three horses, according to 1/ST, the company that owns Pimlico. The May 10 samples were drawn by Maryland Racing Commission personnel and sent to Industrial Labs in Colorado, while the May 11 samples were pulled by officials of 1/ST and sent to the University of California-Davis Ken L. Maddy Laboratory.

Medina Spirit, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, has been entered in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, where he is the morning-line favorite. Baffert has also entered Concert Tour in the Preakness, and the third horse, Beautiful Gift, is scheduled to run later today in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.

Although all horses entered in Triple Crown races are subject to out-of-competition testing, the Baffert-trained horses were required to be extensively tested pre-race after Baffert announced on Sunday that he had been told by Kentucky regulators that Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone, a regulated corticosteroid, after the Derby. Baffert has contended that an ointment containing betamethasone that was applied to Medina Spirit to treat dermatitis in the run-up to the Derby may have been the cause of the Derby positive.

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Earlier this week, Baffert’s attorney, Craig Robertson, said that it was his “understanding” that the last time that Medina Spirit was treated with the ointment was the day after the May 1 Kentucky Derby.

The agreement between the two parties allowed Pimlico and Baffert to avoid a legal skirmish if the track had decided to ban the horse from being entered in the Preakness. Robertson had threatened to file a motion for a temporary restraining order if the track banned Medina Spirit.

On Thursday night, 1/ST had announced that the horses had all tested clean in out-of-competition testing samples that were drawn on May 6 and also tested at Industrial Labs in California. The company said that the samples were “screened for both prohibited and therapeutic substances.” Betamethasone is considered a therapeutic substance since it has legitimate veterinary uses.

The company also said that Baffert had provided medical records for all three horses to Dr. Dionne Benson, 1/ST’s chief veterinary officer, and that the records contained information stating that the ointment, called Otomax, was “dispensed” on April 9 and April 19. Those records were “verified” with veterinary statements on file with regulators in California, where Medina Spirit was based prior to being shipped to Kentucky for the Derby, the company said.

Baffert's other starter on the Preakness Day card, Hozier in the Sir Barton Stakes, was subject to standard testing and came back clean, according to 1/ST.