Bettor Alleges Churchill Downs Erred in Allowing Medina Spirit into 2021 Kentucky Derby in Light of Trainer’s Violation History

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Churchill Downs, the site of the Kentucky Derby, knew of trainer Bob Baffert’s history of equine medication violations yet nevertheless chose to allow the horse Medina Spirit to enter this year’s race while failing to have in place an adequate drug testing system, a proposed class action says. 

The 33-page lawsuit argues that the storied Louisville, Kentucky racetrack, under its own rules and pursuant to state law and regulations, could have refused the entry of Medina Spirit into the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby and erred in declaring the horse—who shortly after the race tested positive for betamethasone, a corticosteroid—the winner. Though betamethasone is legal in Kentucky for therapeutic purposes, it can enhance the performance of a thoroughbred horse and act as a masking agent for inflammation, thereby jeopardizing the animal and the rider, and is forbidden to be used in any amount on race day, according to the suit. 

The plaintiff, a Florida resident who looks to represent those who placed winning pari-mutuel bets on the Kentucky Derby that were thwarted by Medina Spirit’s “presence and finishing placement,” blames Churchill Downs for the events that led up to Medina Spirit’s win and the outcome itself, and alleges the track overall “incorrectly calculated the payouts and incorrectly settled losing wagers.” According to the plaintiff, Churchill Downs should have calculated bettors’ payouts based on the order of the first five finishers behind Medina Spirit at this year’s Kentucky Derby: Mandaloun (7), Hot Rod Charlie (9), Essential Quality (14), O Besos (6) and Midnight Bourbon (10).

As the lawsuit tells it, the plaintiff, a thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast who the suit says uses a “very sophisticated computer program along with many different commercial services” to analyze data and select wagers, and his partners would have collected at least an estimated $1,000,000 in winnings had Churchill Downs not declared Medina Spirit the first-place finisher of the 2021 Kentucky Derby. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff and his partners placed eight different “winning” wagers that remain unsettled due to Churchill Downs’ “error in declaring an ineligible horse as the official first place finisher, incorrectly calculating the payouts and incorrectly settling losing wagers.” 

Named as defendants alongside Churchill Downs are trainer Robert A. Baffert and his company, Bob Baffert Racing, Inc., who earlier this month were hit with a proposed class action that outlines Baffert’s alleged “multiple and repeated” acts of doping and entering horses into races. The case detailed on this page denotes in detail at least 30 previous medication violations throughout Baffert’s career, dating back to August 1977 and leading up to the beginning of this month and the most recent running of the Kentucky Derby. 

The plaintiff stresses in the complaint that Churchill Downs “makes the choice, and has the final say,” to accept or refuse entries at any of its proposed races, including the prestigious Kentucky Derby. Despite the power it wields, and despite its alleged knowledge of Baffert’s reported history, including a horse’s positive test for betamethasone less than two months prior to this year’s Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs nevertheless accepted Medina Spirit’s admission into the race, the lawsuit says. 

Initially filed on May 21 in Jefferson County Circuit Court, the lawsuit has been removed to Kentucky’s Western District Court, Louisville Division. 

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