A second test of blood from Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit has confirmed the presence of the banned steroid betamethasone, a lawyer for the horse’s owner told CNBC on Wednesday.
The second positive test increases the risk that Medina Spirit’s victory on May 1 will be overturned by Kentucky racing officials.
Clark Brewster, the attorney for the horse’s owner, said that officials are allowing the Medina Spirit team to have another lab analyze a third sample from the horse to determine whether there are chemicals that would support the claim by trainer Bob Baffert that the betamethasone came from an ointment, and not an injection.
If the third test gives that result, Brewster could use it to argue against Medina Spirit being disqualified from the Derby, which is the first jewel in thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown.
The attorney also might challenge the accuracy and protocol of the first official test, and the second analysis of blood, known as a split sample.
Brewster said that if a horse fails a first drug test, a trainer normally has the option of “sending the B sample” for analysis at a selected lab for a second, confirmatory test.
For Medina Spirit’s B-Sample, Brewster said, the horse’s team “requested both the blood and urine to be sent to” such a lab.
The attorney said that if both substances were tested, it could detect the presence of chemical components that would indicate whether betamethasone came from the ointment.
“But they [racing…
