In allowing the entry of Medina Spirit in the Preakness Stakes (G1) to be run on Saturday, 1ST/Racing, the company that owns Pimlico Race Course, is hoping that drug testing done this week will inoculate the race against blowback from the test the colt failed after finishing first in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), as was announced by trainer Bob Baffert.
If anything, however, the cloud of uncertainty and public mistrust hanging over the second jewel of the 2021 Triple Crown has grown even darker.
"We are required to acknowledge in this instance that fundamental fairness compels us to respect the individual rights of participants in our sport to due process and adherence to agreed-upon and well-established rules," said 1/ST Racing CEO Craig Fravel as Medina Spirit's entry was accepted earlier this week.
"While the integrity of our sport is of utmost importance it is the responsibility of those in authority to follow the rules even as we seek to enforce them," Fravel's statement continued. "We cannot make things up as we go along, and we trust that the competitors, bettors, and fans will understand the importance of adhering to that principle."
Fair enough, but Fravel's company, headed by Belinda Stronach, is certainly making things up as they go along this week in hanging Medina Spirit's Preakness participation on unprecedented, quickly expedited pre-race tests, just as the company made things up big time not long ago when it was doing business as The Stronach Group, owners of Santa Anita Park.
On the morning of June 22, 2019, existing management summarily ejected and banned Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and all of his horses after one of them suffered a fatal injury in the midst of an alarming cluster of fatalities from a variety of stables that rained down condemnation on Santa Anita. Of the 30 fatalities that wet winter and early spring, the Hollendorfer barn had four, spread over six months and 160 starts. The previous calendar year his barn had zero, in 284 Santa Anita starts, and at least 60 horses training there daily.
"Individuals who do not embrace the new rules and safety measures that put horse and rider safety above all else, will have no place at any Stronach Group racetrack," the company's 2019 statement read. "Effective immediately, Mr. Hollendorfer is no longer welcome to stable, race, or train his horses at any of our facilities."
The Hollendorfer ban was issued on the last weekend of the beleaguered Santa Anita meet. He was allowed no hearing to answer accusations of malpractice in the handling of his horses. He was, and remains, in good standing with the California Horse Racing Board. There were no disciplinary investigations pending, and no action was being taken in the case of his fatalities, other than the necropsies mandated by the CHRB.
In court filings, TSG claimed Hollendorfer worked or entered certain horses that showed indications of lameness.
Fravel was not hired by The Stronach Group until September of 2019, but the ban of Hollendorfer has persisted at 1/ST Racing facilities, now approaching the second anniversary of the day he was chased off the grounds. The same courtesy of "respecting the individual rights of participants in our sport to due process and adherence to agreed-upon and well-established rules" that was extended to Baffert regarding Medina Spirit has not been afforded his fellow Hall of Famer, even retroactively.
And not for nothing, history will note that Hollendorfer was following the "new rules and safety measures" in place at Santa Anita at the time of his ouster. One of his fatalities passed freshly installed racetrack inspection protocols before its fatal injury. Neither did Hollendorfer go on a media campaign in an attempt to explain things away in public. He has reduced his stable and sought other venues to race while continuing to pursue civil action for reinstatement or recompense.
The extra-judicial powers of racetracks acting outside the bounds of racing commissions are becoming a troubling issue. However, unlike its unilateral decision in the Hollendorfer matter, banning Medina Spirit from the Preakness by the racetrack could have been easily justified. At the very least, Baffert's unsubstantiated revelation that the colt received topical medication containing betamethasone through April 30 should raise serious concerns that have not been answered by the performative whirl of pre-race tests. Most significantly, the source of the drug's presence in the post-Derby test has yet to be determined.
In fact, denying Medina Spirit's entry would have been a win-win for Pimlico. Even though the colt's people were ready to seek a temporary restraining order to run, a racing company intent on preserving the integrity of its marquee event could stand by its decision and let its legal representation make the case for exclusion. If the TRO had been pursued and granted, at least the racetrack would have tried, and credit due. If the TRO had been denied, and Medina Spirit sat this one out, the middle jewel of the 2021 Triple Crown would have transpired reasonably free of suspicion.
But now that Medina Spirit will be in the starting gate, suspicion is going to be the only result of the race, no matter who finishes where.
Welcome to the Black-Eyed Preakness.
