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| - Bob Baffert, trainer of doping-hit Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, said Tuesday an anti-fungal medication given to the horse might have inadvertently caused the positive test that has jeopardized the victory. In a statement released by Baffert's lawyer and reported by US media, the famed trainer said his staff treated the colt with the ointment Otomax, which Baffert said he learned Monday includes the substance betamethasone. Medina Spirit tested positive for 21 picograms of betamethasone in a post-race sample, but the substance is banned within two weeks of a race, meaning any amount found in that sample is a violation. A second test from the sample must be positive as well to invalidate Medina Spirit's Derby victory and make runner-up Mandaloun the winner of the May 1 US flat racing classic at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Baffert, who spent the past two days saying the horse was never treated with betamethasone, said the ointment -- given to Medina Spirit once a day until the eve of the Derby -- might have been the source of the banned substance. "Yesterday, I was informed that one of the substances in Otomax is betamethasone," Baffert said. "While we do not know definitively that this was the source of the alleged 21 picograms found in Medina Spirit's post-race blood sample, and our investigation is continuing, I have been told by equine pharmacology experts that this could explain the test results. "I have been told that a finding of a small amount, such as 21 picograms, could be consistent with application of this type of ointment. I intend to continue to investigate and I will continue to be transparent." Medina Spirit has been transported to Pimlico racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, ahead of Saturday's running of the Preakness, the second leg of the US Triple Crown, with the treble concluding at next month's Belmont Stakes in New York. Baffert said he will continue to fight for the colt with Kentucky racing officials, saying such small amounts of the anti-inflamatory substance would not have offered a competitive advantage. "Medina Spirit earned his Kentucky Derby win and my pharmacologists have told me that 21 picograms of betamethasone would have had no effect on the outcome of the race," Baffert said. "Medina Spirit is a deserved champion and I will continue to fight for him." js/nr
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