Kentucky racing officials stripped Medina Spirit of the 2021 Kentucky Derby crown on Monday, according to Joe Drape of The New York Times. Medina Spirit failed a drug test after winning the race, resulting in this decision to make the colt the third horse in the 147-year history of the race to face such a penalty.

Medina Spirit unexpectedly died in December.

With Medina Spirit's victory getting wiped out, trainer Bob Baffert's record-breaking seventh Kentucky Derby win also gets erased. Baffert was suspended for 90 days starting March 8 and fined $7,500 over this matter. Churchill Downs has also suspended Baffert from the Kentucky Derby for two years and is not allowing horses he trains to accrue qualifying points for the race.

The colt's owner, Amr Zedan, is losing out on a $1.8 million payday due to this ruling.

That money now goes to the owner of Mandaloun, the new winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby. That owner is Juddmonte, the racing and breeding enterprise founded by the late Prince Khalid bin Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

This ruling will be appealed, according to a statement from Baffert's attorney, Clark Brewster, in which disappointment but not surprise was expressed. Baffert's legal team continues to deny injecting Medina Spirit with betamethasone, the drug found in the colt's system, instead claiming it was used as an ointment and had no impact on the outcome of the race. The statement calls the decision to take away Medina Spirit's victory “biased, purposeful, and wrongful action.”

The 2022 Kentucky Derby is on May 7.

Editor's note: This story was updated after ClutchPoints received a statement from Bob Baffert's attorney, Clark Brewster.