Bob Baffert vs Churchill Downs: A timeline of why the Hall of Fame trainer will miss another Kentucky Derby

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The 150th running of the Kentucky Derby will take place at the famous Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville on Saturday, May 4. A notable absence from the first leg of the Triple Crown will be any Bob Baffert-trained horse. 

For the third consecutive year, Baffert will not be at the Kentucky Derby – a suspension that began with his record-breaking seventh victory at the race in 2021 that was later stripped because of a failed drug test.

Baffert, a Hall of Fame trainer who is just one of two trainers to ever win the coveted Triple Crown on two occasions, has become considered by some an outcast in the horse racing community following the fallout of Medina Spirit’s Kentucky Derby victory in 2021.

Bob Baffert talks to the media during morning workouts in preparation for the 145th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville on May 2, 2019. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

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Baffert secured his seventh Kentucky Derby win on May 1, 2021, when Medina Spirit, the 3-year-old colt owned by Zedan Racing Stables, won the first leg of the Triple Crown by a half-length. The victory at Churchill Downs broke the record previously shared between Baffert and fellow Hall of Fame trainer Ben Jones.

Days after being declared the winner, it was announced on May 9, 2021, that Medina Spirit had failed a postrace drug test by testing positive for an excessive amount of the steroid betamethasone. Churchill Downs immediately suspended Baffert, who denied any wrongdoing.

"It is our understanding that Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit’s post-race blood sample indicated a violation of the Commonwealth of