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It's Official: Derby Winner Medina Spirit Failed Drug Test
Derby Winner Medina Spirit
Fails 2nd Drug Test
UPDATED
Jun 2, 2021 10:06 AM CDT

Derby Winner Medina Spirit Fails 2nd Drug Test

Betamethasone was found at prohibited level

(Newser) - Medina Spirit could go down in history as the second horse to be disqualified from the Kentucky Derby for a failed drug test. Two, in this case. A second sample tested at the request of trainer Bob Baffert has come back positive, says Clark Brewster, a lawyer for Medina Spirit...

Racehorses With 'Champion Bloodlines' Die in Fiery Crash

The accident happened early Sunday on the New Jersey Turnpike

(Newser) - A fiery crash on the New Jersey Turnpike in the wee hours of Sunday morning claimed the lives of 10 racehorses who were nearing the last leg of their journey from Florida to New York. The New York Times reports the group, which included two horses with "champion bloodlines,...

Santa Anita Makes Changes After Another Horse Dies

The cause of the rash of fatal injuries hasn't been found

(Newser) - A horse died during a workout Thursday at Santa Anita Park, the 22nd death in less than three months at the track outside Los Angeles. The 3-year-old filly, Princess Lili B, was euthanized after breaking both front legs, NBC4 reports. The Arcadia track had just reopened Monday for training; it...

Racehorses Are Dropping Dead in California

17 confusing deaths since July

(Newser) - Racehorses that die in California are subject to one of the country's most comprehensive post-mortem reviews, and what those reviews are finding—or not finding—is unsettling. Racehorses have been dropping dead in the state, and no one knows why, reports the New York Times . Nineteen died in in...

Europe Now Scared to Eat US Horse Meat

Officials fear racehorse doping has made meat too toxic to consume

(Newser) - The latest sign that doping is a growing problem in the horse-racing world: European food safety officials now fear our horse meat is too toxic to eat. As the New York Times explains, about 15% of the US horses bound for slaughter in Canada and Mexico (where such processing is...

Does a Racehorse Pee Like One?

Yep: The animals drop gallons per day

(Newser) - If you’ve gotta pee like a racehorse, you’ve got some serious peeing to do: Racehorses urinate up to 2 gallons a day. Yes, as you sit down to watch the Kentucky Derby tomorrow, know that the idiom is accurate, Slate explains. An average man urinates 1 to 2...

Kentucky Derby: Root for the Horse With No Balls

Comma To The Top is the people's champion

(Newser) - Looking for a rooting interest at Sunday’s Kentucky Derby? Well, you should be cheering for Comma To The Top, argues Edward McClelland of Slate , for one simple reason: "He can’t produce sperm." Which means he’ll be able to race for another three years. “If...

No Happy Trails for Kentucky Derby Horses

The way we treat thoroughbreds is a disgrace, says Marlene Fanta Shyer

(Newser) - You might imagine that the horses who run in tomorrow’s Kentucky Derby live lives of "pampered luxury." But you’d be wrong, writes Marlene Fanta Shyer in the Christian Science Monitor . “The truth is often closer to years of abuse and a brutal end at a...

Driver Flicks Cigarette, 6 Horses Burn to Death

Motorist ignites hay in trailer transporting young thoroughbreds

(Newser) - Six racehorses burned to death when a passing driver flicked a still-burning cigarette butt into their trailer as it traveled down a North Carolina highway on Friday night. The hay was ignited, and quickly killed the frantic thoroughbreds on their way to New York's Belmont racetrack. The trailer's...

Struggling Charity Leaves Ex-Racehorses Starving

Some horses put down as foundation falls behind in payments

(Newser) - One of the world’s top charities supporting retired racehorses has fallen far behind in payments to support the horses, leaving scores of the creatures malnourished, starving, or dead; at least two have had to be put down, the New York Times reports. The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation in upstate New...

Horses Electrocuted in Racecourse Tragedy

Shocks from faulty cable surged through shoes, officials believe

(Newser) - Two prize racehorses began prancing grotesquely, then staggered and fell dead on a patch of grass before a British race over the weekend. The horrifying spectacle unfolded in front of a stunned crowd watching the riderless horses being led around the infield paddock of the Newbury track. Official speculated they...

For Owners, Horse Racing a Sure Bet (to Lose)

The ponies are a labor of love with small stakes, high costs

(Newser) - Thoroughbred racehorses aren’t cheap to buy—and then you have to house them, feed them, pay the vet, the trainer, the jockey, etc. And if you actually intend to make money, they have to win. And even then, since most horses never make the elite high-stakes races, owners have...

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