Bob Baffert-trained colt Rapacious is euthanized after falling on the California track after embattled trainer was given a two-year Kentucky Derby ban over Medina Spirit’s failed drug test
Rapacious straightened up twice, lost his balance and fell on his back on Tuesday
After being examined by vets, the foal was euthanized due to the injury
The unraced colt became the 10th horse to die at the Los Alamitos circuit this year
Bob Baffert was banned from Churchill Downs for two years for failed drug tests
Medina Spirit failed a few drug tests after his 2021 Kentucky Derby win
The horse died on December 6 of what Baffert claimed was a heart attack
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An unraced two-year-old colt trained by Bob Baffert was euthanized after an accident at Los Alamitos, becoming the 10th horse to die at the Southern California track this year.
Officials on the track in Orange County said Rapacious completed his morning workout on Tuesday when he got up twice as he was about to leave the track. The foal lost his balance and fell on his back. The practice rider was not injured.
After being examined by vets, the foal was euthanized because of his back injury, track officials said. The California Horse Racing Board has yet to classify the cause of death.
The colt, owned by SF Bloodstock, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stable, had not made its racing debut.
“Los Alamitos remains committed to the safety of horse and rider and is conducting a full assessment of this incident,” the track said in a statement.
The track took steps to address safety after four horses died over 11 days earlier this year.
Of the 10 deaths on the track, four were Thoroughbreds. The other six were quarter horses, who also race at Los Alamitos, according to the CHRB’s list of horse fatalities.
Another Baffert-trained horse, Medina Spirit, collapsed and died last December after training in Santa Anita.
An unraced two-year-old foal trained by Bob Baffert (pictured) was euthanized after a fall
Rapacious is the 10th horse to die at California’s Los Alamitos Race Course this year
Baffert has claimed that Medina Spirit died of a heart attack, but an autopsy could not reveal a definitive cause of death. The report said no other drugs, heavy metals or toxic substances were detected.
The necropsy included a rough examination of the body and internal organs, and the collection of samples for microscopic examination, toxicology, drug testing and genetic testing, also preserving samples for possible future testing.
Medina Spirit was posthumously disqualified and stripped of his Kentucky Derby win earlier this year after failing a post-win drug test.
Medina Spirit (pictured) was stripped of victory in last year’s Kentucky Derby and Mandaloun was declared the winner after a ruling by state race stewards in February
Churchill Downs suspended Baffert until 2023 last spring, citing a recent spate of failed drug tests by his horses, including Medina Spirit.
Baffert sued historic course and track officials in federal court in March in an effort to overturn the controversial Hall of Fame trainer’s two-year doping ban on the grounds that he violated his procedural law.
The suit filed in March in US court and obtained by DailyMail.com, names Churchill Downs Inc., CEO William C. Carstanjen and chairman R. Alex Rankin.
Baffert initially denied doing anything wrong after a post-race drug test revealed 21 picograms of betamethasone in the horse’s system after the Kentucky Derby win. He later admitted that he had treated the horse with a topical ointment containing the corticosteroid for a skin inflammation.
Churchill Downs then suspended Baffert, citing a recent spate of failed drug tests by his horses. Baffert sued the race commission last June, seeking custody of remnants of Medina Spirit’s blood and urine for later tests to prove the steroid was not from an injection.
Craig Robertson, a lawyer for Baffert, said in December that a urine test of a split sample showed the steroid came from an ointment.
Baffert holds up the winner’s trophy after his Kentucky Derby win with Medina Spirit
On February 21, Robertson vowed to appeal the decision of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
Baffert originally blamed ‘cancel culture’ for the foal’s positive test in May 2021.
Betamethasone is the same drug found in Gamine’s system, another Baffert-trained horse that finished third in the Kentucky Oaks in September 2020. Gamine was eventually disqualified from that finish because of that test and Baffert was fined $1,500.