Some of 2024's best horses will miss the Kentucky Derby as Churchill's feud with Bob Baffert lingers

LEXINGTON, Ky. — This year’s historic 150th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville will, once again, be absent of the biggest name in modern horse racing.

Bob Baffert — the 71-year-old trainer who is tied for the most Derby wins by a trainer (six) in history — is once again barred from saddling a horse in the sport’s biggest event.

This will be the third straight Kentucky Derby without Baffert being the trainer of record for any horse in the field. But Baffert’s name has been ever present in horse racing while he’s been suspended from Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) tracks for the last three years.

For anyone who could have possibly forgotten, here are the highlights from the last few years:

— In June 2021, Baffert was suspended from CDI racetracks through the end of Churchill’s 2023 spring meet after his horse, Medina Spirit, tested positive for a substance banned on race day after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Medina Spirit was disqualified, and the 2021 Derby was awarded to the second-place finisher, Mandaloun.

The win by Medina Spirit initially gave Baffert a record-setting seventh Kentucky Derby victory as a trainer. Medina Spirit died in December 2021 in California. A necropsy on the horse showed no definitive cause of death.

— Last July, CDI extended the suspension of Baffert through 2024. CDI said, in part, that the suspension was extended “based on continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing (Baffert) poses to CDI-owned racetracks.”

— Baffert sued Churchill Downs. In late January 2024, Baffert announced that he asked his attorneys to dismiss the appeal of Medina Spirit’s 2021 Derby disqualification.

— Last week, a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge denied a request for a temporary injunction that would have allowed a horse trained by Baffert, Muth, to enter this year’s Kentucky Derby. Owner Amr Zedan (Zedan Racing Stables) filed a lawsuit against Churchill Downs to try and get Muth, who won the Arkansas Derby, into the Derby field. Zedan also was the owner of Medina Spirit.

Baffert was not a party to this lawsuit. An appeal in this case was filed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. On April 24, a Kentucky Court of Appeals judge upheld the original decision: Muth won’t be allowed to race in the Kentucky Derby.

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