Churchill reinstates Baffert after three-year ban

Churchill Downs Inc. has lifted a three-year ban of the trainer Bob Baffert at its properties, effective immediately, citing a statement that the trainer released to the company earlier on Friday accepting “responsibility” for a positive test in Medina Spirit after the horse’s win in the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

The decision will allow Baffert to race his horses at Churchill’s properties and removes restrictions that prevented horses trained by Baffert from earning points toward qualifying for berths in the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks. Baffert, who has won the Derby six times and the Oaks three times, was unable to participate in those races from 2022-2024, a staggering blow for a trainer who has built his reputation on success in the Triple Crown races.

Churchill first issued a two-year ban of Baffert in the summer of 2021, after the Medina Spirit positive for the regulated corticosteroid betamethasone touched off waves of negative publicity. The company extended the ban one more year last summer, citing comments made by Baffert weeks earlier. At the time, the company said that Baffert “continues to peddle a false narrative” of the Medina Spirit positive.

In a statement released by Churchill on Friday, Bill Carstanjen, the company’s chief executive officer, said the company was “satisfied that Mr. Baffert has taken full responsibility for his actions, completed a substantial penalty, and is committed to running in full compliance with the rules and regulations going forward.”

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“All parties agree that it is time to bring this chapter to a close and focus on the future,” Carstanjen said.

Although Baffert filed various legal claims seeking to block the disqualification of Medina Spirit from the Derby and avoid penalties for the positive, he eventually served a 90-day suspension for the positive that was issued by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which also disqualified the horse.

Baffert also filed civil claims seeking to invalidate Churchill’s two-year suspension, but those efforts failed.

Earlier this year, Medina Spirit’s owner, Amr Zedan, filed a separate legal challenge to the one-year extension of the ban, but that case was resolved in Churchill’s favor. Baffert was not a party to the suit.

Friday’s Churchill announcement included a statement from Baffert in which he said he is “responsible for any substance found in a horse that I train.”

“I understand and appreciate that Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission took steps to enforce the rules that they believed were necessary to protect the safety and integrity of horse racing and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby,” Baffert said, in the statement. “My family and I want to put this behind us and get back to doing what we love to do without any more distraction or negativity.”

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