FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Franklin Circuit Court judge has ordered most of a split sample of Medina Spirit's urine be further tested at a lab of chosen by the Kentucky Derby winner's owner and trainer.
Judge Thomas Wingate said two representatives of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission must travel to a lab chosen by Bob Baffert and Zedan Racing Stables to witness the division of Medina Spirit's split urine sample into two aliquots. Baffert and Zedan's representatives will receive 20 milliliters of the same, while KHRC will receive 5 ml and any leftover sample.
The lab, Wingate said, must limit its testing to betamethasone valerate, gentamicin and clotrimazole to decide if the traces of betamethasone in Medina Spirit's system came from a topical ointment.
Test results will be provided to both parties simultaneously, and unused urine and blood samples will be hand-delivered to a KHRC representative.
The order comes one week after Baffert and Zedan filed a lawsuit requesting more testing be done. Attorneys for the two said there has been an "absolute firestorm" surrounding Medina Spirt and the alleged test results.
"Baffert has been excoriated by some members of the press and public who have accused him of ‘injecting’ Medina Spirit with betamethasone in an effort to cheat to win the Kentucky Derby," the lawsuit read. "The public discourse has frequently suggested that Betamethasone is a banned substance and that Medina Spirit was subjected to 'doping.' Neither are remotely true."
Baffert has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying the trace amounts are linked to Otomax, an anti-fungal ointment prescribed by a veterinarian to treat dermatitis.
Churchill Downs imposed a two-year ban on Baffert following the results of the split sample test earlier this month.
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