Medina Spirit was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who finished first in the 2021 Kentucky Derby before being disqualified.
25 Facts About Medina Spirit
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Medina Spirit came second in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Classic and third in the 2021 Preakness Stakes.
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Medina Spirit crossed the finish line first in the Derby, but was later disqualified after testing positive for the anti-inflammatory steroid betamethasone.
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Later that year, Medina Spirit won the Shared Belief Stakes and Awesome Again Stakes before coming second in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
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Medina Spirit was a dark bay colt bred in Florida by Gail Rice.
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Medina Spirit was from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Protonico, who stands at Castleton Farm.
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Medina Spirit was the first foal produced by Mongolian Changa, a daughter of Brilliant Speed, who won one of six starts.
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Medina Spirit was foaled on April 5,2018, on a 10-acre farm in Ocala, Florida.
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Medina Spirit's dam was at first unable to produce milk for him.
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Medina Spirit attracted little attention when he was entered in the Ocala Breeders Sale of January 2019.
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Medina Spirit was sent into training with Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, initially under assistant Mike Marlow.
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Medina Spirit kept surprising his connections by outworking the more expensive colts that Baffert's stable is known to attract.
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Medina Spirit vied for the early lead with Sensemaker, running the first quarter-mile in 22.20.
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Medina Spirit took the lead turning for home and kicked clear to win by three lengths.
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Medina Spirit made his first start as a three-year-old in the Sham Stakes at Santa Anita Park on January 2,2021.
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Medina Spirit, who had raced in second throughout, made a late run to close to within three-quarters of a length, with the third-place finisher 13 lengths further back.
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Medina Spirit went to the early lead and turned into the stretch with a one length lead.
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Medina Spirit was the second betting choice to Life Is Good, who went to the early lead and was never challenged, winning by eight lengths over Medina Spirit, with Dream Shake third.
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At one point, Baffert theorized that, prior to the race, Medina Spirit might have eaten hay on which a groom who had taken cough medication had urinated.
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Medina Spirit alleged that the horse's connections requested both bloodwork and urine to be submitted for split sampling, but only the bloodwork was sent.
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Medina Spirit was ranked first in the NTRA 3-year-old poll, a weekly ranking of thoroughbreds by horse racing columnists and journalists, after his win in the Kentucky Derby.
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On May 14,2021, Medina Spirit passed all of the pre-race drug tests administered to him and was given final clearance to run in the Preakness.
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Medina Spirit got off to a good start, setting fractions of 22.52,46.92,1:11.81 and 1:24.33.
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Medina Spirit collapsed and died at Santa Anita Park following a five furlong workout on December 6,2021.
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An asterisk after the odds means Medina Spirit was the post-time favorite.