As Medina Spirit prepares for a start in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), the biggest win of his career is still very much up in the air thanks to a regulatory process that has stalled after his failed post-race drug test following a first-place finish in the May 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).
For those familiar with the state-to-state regulatory process that oversees the sport, a prolonged case seemed likely from the start after the failed test. That said, the extended amount of time between the infraction and even the initial stewards’ hearing has been slow—even by racing’s current snail’s-pace standards. Nov. 1 will mark six months since the race.
The attorney defending Medina Spirit’s owner said in such cases it’s important ahead of the stewards’ hearing to gather evidence and information that could clear the client or lower sanctions. On the other side of that equation are concerns that the long time required to resolve such cases is negatively impacting the sport.
For comparison, in the only other instance of a Derby winner failing a post-race drug test, Dancer’s Image was disqualified three days after the race. He tested positive for phenylbutazone after the 1968 Derby.
That was a different time though, when they didn’t even collect split samples that could be used to confirm or refute an initial lab finding. Beyond that, the three-day stewards’ hearing actually came after the announcement of the disqualification.
Dancer’s Picture’s proprietor Peter Fuller appealed the DQ on the regulatory stage and in courts for years. Whereas at one level a circuit courtroom choose really dominated in Fuller’s favor, the racing fee finally received the case on attraction, ending a course of that took greater than 4 years.
Even in contrast with that prolonged course of, the Medina Spirit case is off to even a slower begin. As of Oct. 27, Kentucky stewards had nonetheless not performed a listening to on Medina Spirit, who examined optimistic for betamethasone after the Derby.
After the race, a break up pattern—now commonplace follow—confirmed the post-race discovering. However attorneys for Medina Spirit’s connections, proprietor Zedan Racing Stables (Amr bin Fareed bin Mohammed bin Zedan) and coach Bob Baffert, are pursuing additional testing they consider might present exculpatory or mitigating proof.
A Kentucky courtroom has backed this pursuit, which has seen a pattern despatched to New York to see if a lab there can discover substances apart from betamethasone. Such a discovering might assist the connections’ rivalry that the failed drug take a look at was brought on by a topical utility quite than an injection of the corticosteroid. A stewards’ listening to would then comply with however at this level issues have stalled at that New York lab, the New York Equine Drug Testing and Analysis Laboratory.
On Sept. 24 the lab’s director, Dr. George Maylin, stated they had been awaiting “crucial metabolite synthesis info.”
Legal professional Clark Brewster, representing Zedan Racing Stables, stated in mounting a protection of such costs it is necessary to gather all obtainable info and proof forward of the stewards’ listening to. He famous that even when the stewards finally decide a violation occurred in a case, they’re tasked with assigning sanctions and are requested to contemplate mitigating circumstances in making these selections.
“The true concern is the overwhelming majority of trainers who’ve positives, have these positives for overages of therapeutic medicine,” Brewster stated. “There are thresholds in place however generally there are the explanation why a horse has an overage. The principles present for mitigation and it is necessary the stewards hear the circumstances.”
Mary Scollay, government director and COO of the trade’s Racing Medicine and Testing Consortium and former equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Fee, stated such delays are problematic for the game.
“There are many trade issues. There are different individuals and different horses which are affected by the end result of the race, whether or not it is purse cash, or a horse that was claimed, or a horse shedding a situation as a result of it will get moved up,” Scollay stated. “Typically there’s black sort concerned and anyone needs to ship a horse to the breeding shed or put a filly by means of a sale. So there will be all kinds of widespread ramifications for delays in any case being heard.”
Whereas the Medina Spirit case has made headlines inside and past the game, there are different current examples of circumstances taking an prolonged time to proceed. A few of these delays will be attributed to the added challenges in scheduling conferences in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, nevertheless it’s clear that many current circumstances are dragging for causes past these challenges.
One such case in Kentucky noticed Steve Asmussen fined $500 practically a 12 months after a horse he skilled failed a post-race take a look at. Primarily based on paperwork obtained by BloodHorse by means of an open information request, that case additionally noticed months cross by earlier than the stewards’ listening to was performed.
Within the Asmussen case, Saffa’s Day , a horse co-owned by Brewster, failed a post-race drug test after he finished first in a maiden race Oct. 11, 2020, at Keeneland. A stewards’ ruling towards Asmussen wasn’t issued till Sept. 30, 2021.
Past that, as of Oct. 27 the ruling towards Asmussen has not been posted on the KHRC web site—as is commonplace by the KHRC for such sanctions. The ruling was famous in a packet of data ready for the Oct. 26 KHRC assembly chief state steward Barbara Borden.
Placing apart the prolonged time earlier than the stewards’ ruling and the general public reporting falling brief, the case would look like a reasonably commonplace medicine violation. After ending first in a maiden race within the fall of 2020, Saffa’s Day examined optimistic for the anti-inflammatory corticosteroid dexamethasone—thought-about a low-level violation primarily based on trade requirements.
On the Affiliation of Racing Commissioners Uniform Classifications Tips dexamethasone is taken into account a Class 4 substance (second-lowest of concern of 5 lessons) and requires a Class C penalty (second-least harshest). This penalty class doesn’t name for a suspension for a primary offense though it does name for disqualification of the horse.
On Oct. 21 Industrial Labs in Wheat Ridge, Colo. (the KHRC’s official lab on the time) known as the optimistic, discovering a stage of 35.1 picograms per milliliter. Cut up pattern testing was performed on the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory and on Dec. 7 that lab confirmed the preliminary take a look at, discovering a stage of 39.8 picograms per milliliter.
Even with each exams in-hand, a listening to on Asmussen wouldn’t comply with earlier than 12 months’s finish. As for the house owners, the case had an attention-grabbing twist.
These house owners, Brewster and L and N Racing, despatched an electronic mail Jan. 12 to chief steward Borden expressing a want to waive any additional rights to contest the alleged medicine optimistic and thus have their horse promptly restored to maiden standing. Primarily based on emails obtained within the open information request, Borden granted that request Jan. 14 and forwarded Brewster discover of the disqualification to final and purse redistribution. Saffa’s Day forfeited $37,800.
Saffa’s Day can be disqualified from this maiden win at Keeneland
On the identical time, Borden knowledgeable Equibase of the choice and Saffa’s Day once more was thought-about a maiden. Saffa’s Day completed unplaced in a pair of stakes races to shut out 2020, then quickly after the choice—along with his maiden standing restored—the son of Carpe Diem won an $82,000 maiden race Jan. 22 at Oaklawn Park—incomes his house owners a $49,200 purse.
Whereas the house owners’ case was resolved in early January, Asmussen initially had a stewards’ listening to scheduled a number of weeks later. However his case took for much longer. On Jan. 15, sooner or later after Borden knowledgeable the house owners of the DQ of Saffa’s Day, Brewster, representing Asmussen, knowledgeable Borden that extra time can be wanted to amass all the data concerned within the case.
“Thus far we have now but to obtain any of the paperwork beforehand requested,” an affiliate of Brewster stated in a Jan. 15 electronic mail to Borden. “Our workplace can not adequately put together for the stewards’ listening to nor meet with our specialists till these paperwork have been produced. Bearing that in thoughts, the stewards’ listening to scheduled for Jan. 27 is just too bold.
“I am requesting a continuance of the listening to in order that we could have ample time to arrange.”
A video convention can be scheduled for Asmussen earlier than the stewards April 22. Primarily based on information, it is unclear if that assembly occurred. KHRC government director Marc Guilfoil declined to speak in regards to the Medina Spirit case as a result of the investigation is ongoing. With Brewster concerned in each circumstances, Guilfoil additionally declined to speak in regards to the Asmussen case.
Whether or not that April stewards’ listening to occurred or not, the stewards’ ruling was not issued till Sept. 30.
By way of timing in such circumstances, Scollay stated it is her expertise that more often than not the stewards are ready to maneuver ahead. Nonetheless, these stewards sometimes grant requests for extra time. Whereas expediency is a priority, the stewards additionally know that in the event that they push too exhausting to hurry issues up, the fee runs the danger of working afoul of due course of legal guidelines.
Brewster stated time usually is required to make sure everybody is aware of precisely what occurred in a case. As stewards are capable of think about mitigating circumstances, he stated it is necessary to know issues comparable to if the optimistic might be linked to an oral utility versus an injection, or if the horse presumably did not clear the medicine from its system as quick as steered can be secure within the steering.
Past that, Brewster stated he has seen some circumstances drag on as a result of stewards have been reluctant to make selections.
“They need to think about mitigating circumstances, however there’s quite a lot of stress on everyone in these positions to throw down the hammer as of late,” Brewster stated. “There’s such a worry in regards to the response to their selections in the event that they’re considered as too mild; however all the info have to be thought-about. If you’re speaking in regards to the minute ranges of testing that we have now, there virtually all the time are mitigating circumstances that have to be thought-about.”
For now Zedan Racing Stables, Baffert, the stewards, KHRC, and the racing public await the decision of the case being thought-about—in some unspecified time in the future.
