Medina Spirit died while working out on Monday morning in California.
- The 3-year-old thoroughbred failed a drug test after winning the Kentucky Derby in May. While training at Santa Anita, the horse may have suffered a heart attack, said his trainer Bob Baffert, according to NBC News.
- The “entire barn” was devastated by the death.
- “Medina Spirit was a great champion, a member of our family who was loved by all, and we are deeply mourning his loss,” Baffert said, per the report. “I will always cherish the proud and personal memories of Medina Spirit and his tremendous spirit. Our most sincere condolences go out to Mr. Amr Zedan and the entire Zedan Racing Stables family.”
An official cause of death awaits the results of the examination and toxicology reports.
- Senior veterinarian Laurie Bohannon and her team “immediately took blood, hair and urine samples from Medina Spirit. Those samples were sent to the California Horse Racing Board. A full necropsy, as per protocol in California, run by the University of California-Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine will be performed to try and ascertain the exact cause of this sudden death,” per the statement by Santa Anita Park.
Medina Spirit and jockey John Velazquez won the Kentucky Derby on May 1 with 12-1 odds, making it the seventh victory for Baffert, per Courier Journal.
- But after a week, the trainer and the horse became a subject of controversy when it was revealed that the animal tested positive for 21 picograms of betamethasone, a manmade steroid that is considered a performance enhancer.