Let’s spell out the facts surrounding what’s going on with 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit and trainer Bob Baffert for you so we’re not all confused: the thoroughbred tested positive for betamethasone — per the Courier-Journal, “a corticosteroid … [that can] suppress inflammation, according to the Mayo Clinic. They can additionally suppress the immune system.”
Baffert is disputing the test results — he said he has no idea where the drug came from — and a second positive test would disqualify Medina Spirit as the Derby winner.
The next step for Baffert was to deny wrongdoing to the media, and one ridiculous statement he’s made — and repeated! — is making the rounds. First, here’s what he said to FOX News:
Baffert: My horse is a victim of cancel culture pic.twitter.com/PgWWtiidAI
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) May 10, 2021
“Churchill Downs came out with that statement that was pretty harsh. With all the noise going out … we live in a different world now, this America is different. It was like a cancel-culture kind of a thing.”
What? What does so-called “cancel culture” have to do with a positive drug test? Maybe he was mistaken, there’s no way he’d repeat that again to another outlet? Right?
Nope!
Baffert on Dan Patrick: “Churchill came out with a really harsh statement. I think it was a knee jerk cancel culture kind of reaction. They violated my due process.” Says positive tests are usually confidential until split sample confirmed. “Now I have to fight this in public”
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) May 10, 2021
Here’s more from that Dan Patrick interview:
"I don't know if I was sabotaged. I think someone could have handled this horse… touched it." – Bob Baffert on @dpshow
— Andrew Perloff (@andrewperloff) May 10, 2021
"These horses don't live in a bubble. … The stalls are open. People can walk through any time. … It just seems really strange… here's a horse that didn't get that specific drug." – Bob Baffert on @dpshow
— Andrew Perloff (@andrewperloff) May 10, 2021
If there really was a conspiracy against Baffert and Medina Spirit, that would really be something.
But a positive drug test is not “cancel culture,” whatever that’s supposed to be. And it’s laughable for Baffert to use that phrase here, an attempt to win some sort of battle in the court of public opinion by throwing out a meaningless and politically-charged phrase thrown around way too often.
I would say nice try, but it’s really not. At least stick to the possibility of an accident with stories like these:
Baffert says one test issue was created by a groom urinating in the stall after the groom had been taking cough medicine. Horse ate some of the hay.
— rickbozich (@rickbozich) May 10, 2021
