Medina Spirit departed Churchill Downs in a van before dawn on Monday, bound for Baltimore (a horse van, not Jeff Spicoli’s VW bus). The Kentucky Derby winner is staying ahead of the drug-testing posse, or at least ahead of the timeline for results of his split sample, after a positive test for betamethasone threw his Derby triumph into dispute.
The plan, according to trainer Bob Baffert, is to forge onward with the tainted colt in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, the second leg of the horse racing Triple Crown. The Maryland Jockey Club put out a statement on Sunday saying that “any decision regarding the entry of Medina Spirit in the 146th Preakness Stakes will be made after review of the facts.