![]() The in-limbo drug DQ appeal of Medina Spirit still clouds the 2021 Derby. An inexplicable 80-1 winner was 2022's oddity. The last four Derbies have all been dysfunctional to some degree. For the sport as a whole, it's embarrassing. Theoretically, that's great for the colt. That's because the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission still hasn't adjudicated the appeal, 743 days after the test sample was drawn.īottom line? All this attention being deflected away from Mage lets him coast into Baltimore further under the radar than most Derby winners. Separately, we still don't know the outcome of the appeal of Medina Spirit's betamethasone DQ from the 2021 Derby, which is what sparked both Baffert's ruling-off and the lawsuit. Yes, Baffert's two-year banishment from the Derby has come and gone, but the lawyering is far from done and the legal fight grinds on. Will “Richie” still be destined for the big screen? Destined for prolonged litigation seems more like it.Īnd finally, even though it managed not to percolate to the top of the news cycle last week, trainer Bob Baffert and Churchill Downs, Inc., were still trading court filings in Baffert's federal civil rights lawsuit against the gaming company that controls the nation's most important horse race. Dawson's take is that he was being kept out of the loop on negotiations and that “things were done behind my back.” Reed's version of events is that he stepped away after Dawson gave him an ultimatum to either drop the project or get fired. Rather, trainer Eric Reed informed owner Rick Dawson (via text) that he was resigning after the two failed to come to an agreement over–Are you ready for this?–a proposed movie deal. The issue had nothing to do with the colt's 0-for-6 record since winning the first leg of the 2022 Triple Crown. ![]() The same day as word of Forte's DQ broke, the connections of last year's underdog Derby upsetter, Rich Strike (Keen Ice), also got dragged into the headlines for a cringe-worthy cameo. The case is under appeal, with the only certainty being that it, too, is likely to linger in the courts for a long, long time. on the basis of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication positive. Two days later, on May 11, Forte was disqualified from the GI Hopeful S. That would be the 2-year-old champ Forte ( Violence), who on May 9 was revealed to have failed a drug test at Saratoga last September, with the public kept in the dark the entire eight months afterward until the scoop was leaked to the New York Times. That was followed a few days later by proponents and opponents of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) sparring in federal court, where the highlighting of racing's recent, grim headlines to prove points underscored a nasty turn in a two-year-old lawsuit that has no end in sight.Īdditionally, Mage was eclipsed in the news by the colt who was favored to beat him, but had to scratch on the morning of the Derby with a foot bruise. It has to do with overlapping waves of chaos commandeering the game like a searing mint julep hangover that won't go away.Ĭolleague Bill Finley wrote in this space last week about the seven horse deaths at Churchill Downs that overshadowed Mage's Derby score. That's not so much because the spotlight on his accomplishment has dimmed. You could make the argument that the diminutive, white-blazed chestnut with the endearing overbite has enjoyed one of the least-scrutinized post-Derby weeks of any winner in recent history. Of all the potential excuses for GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage ( Good Magic) not emerging victorious from the GI Preakness S., intense media pressure is unlikely to be one of them. Next week at this time, we'll know if the sport is on the cusp of another Triple Crown sweep.
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