Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit gets to run in Preakness — with conditions
Video above: Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit arrives in Baltimore
It looks like the Kentucky Derby winner will get his shot in the Preakness Stakes this weekend after all.
Medina Spirit, trained by famed trainer Bob Baffert, recently tested positive for a steroid, putting his Derby winner status in jeopardy.
It also had many wondering whether he'd be eligible for the second leg of the Triple Crown in Baltimore.
But an agreement was reached Tuesday to let Medina Spirit, as well as his other horse, Concert Tour, compete in the Preakness Stakes.
The Maryland Jockey Club said the horse would be permitted "with rigorous conditions to entry along with a binding commitment from Bob Baffert to full transparency of medical and testing results that will allow for all results to be released to the public."
Baffert consented to blood testing, monitoring and a medical record review by the Maryland Jockey Club for both horses, as well as a third horse, Beautiful Gift, running in the Black Eyed Susan Stakes.
It also says that the horses were already tested when they arrived to Pimlico (the track in Baltimore) and if any of the horses test positive for a banned substance, they will be scratched.
Click here to read the letter signed and sent Alan Rifkin, Maryland Jockey Club attorney.
The Preakness post position draw is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
Medina Spirit's status as Derby champ remains in limbo while we await a second drug test.
The first positive test for the steroid betamethasone was on Sunday. Twenty-one picograms of the steroid were found in a postrace sample, double the legal threshold in Kentucky racing.
Earlier Tuesday, Baffert's lawyer said the horse was treated for dermatitis with ointment containing the steroid once a day leading up to the May 1 race and that equine pharmacology experts told him it could explain the test results.
Baffert was immediately suspended from entering any horses at Churchill Downs.
Medina Spirit's win gave Baffert his 7th historic Derby win. He came out of the post with 12-1 odds, the sixth best, overcoming frontrunner Essential Quality, who came in fourth.
Baffert says Medina Spirit was bought for only $1,000.
Medina Spirit isn't the first horse to of Baffert's to fail a drug test. Last month, multiple reports stated two of his horses "had tested positive for lidocaine beyond the accepted levels." However, the commission dropped a 15-day suspension for Baffert.