PETA Statement: Lawsuit for Additional Testing for Medina Spirit

For Immediate Release:
June 8, 2021

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the lawsuit by Bob Baffert and Medina Spirit’s owner seeking additional testing to show the source of betamethasone in the horse’s blood:

Bob Baffert fails not only at chemistry but also at logic. A test result revealing that he used ointment on Medina Spirit wouldn’t prove that he didn’t also inject the horse’s joints. Indeed, he may have injected betamethasone and also used the ointment just to give himself another absurd excuse. The trainer is responsible for a failed drug test, and the trainer must bear the punishment—which should be a swift banishment from racing. PETA again calls for a thorough independent veterinary examination of Medina Spirit to determine whether he has injuries or pain that may have been masked by the medication.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.