Medina Spirit in Haskell Invitational not definite, Baffert says
CYPRESS, Calif. - Medina Spirit, the first-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby on May 1 who has not raced since a third in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 15, is training daily and is close to a second workout in recent weeks, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday.
Baffert had previously mentioned the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 17 as an early summer goal for Medina Spirit and said on Sunday that an assessment on the colt’s participation will be made in coming days.
“It might get here too soon,” Baffert said of the Haskell. “I freshened him a little bit, but he’s training every day.”
The $1 million Haskell is run at 1 1/8 miles. Baffert has won the race a record nine times.
Medina Spirit has had one workout since the Preakness, going three furlongs in 37.60 seconds at Santa Anita on June 14. Baffert said Sunday that Medina Spirit will have another workout “soon.”
Medina Spirit has been at the center of controversy since early May when he tested positive for the banned medication betamethasone after the Kentucky Derby. A split sample confirmed the original test, leading to a recent lawsuit by Baffert and owner Amr Zedan against the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission regarding testing.
Baffert and Zedan have argued in the lawsuit that Medina Spirit was treated with a skin ointment product that contained betamethasone and was not administered the medication via injection.
Medina Spirit has won 3 of 7 starts. Aside from the Kentucky Derby, Medina Spirit's only other stakes win came in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 30.
Medina Spirit was not nominated to the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby, a $100,000 race at 1 1/8 miles on Saturday. Baffert has three of the eight nominees: Defunded and Classier, who were second and third in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita on June 13, and Hudson Ridge, the winner of the Cinema Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita on May 23.
The Los Alamitos summer meeting has its second and final week of racing from Friday through Monday. The only other stakes at the meeting is Monday’s Grade 2 Great Lady M Stakes, for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Gamine, the Baffert-trained champion female sprinter of 2020, and Edgeway, the winner of the $250,000 Carousel Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs at Oaklawn Park on April 10, head a list of 15 nominees. Gamine is unbeaten in two starts this year, including the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 1.