Gotcha. I don’t have any idea either. Here was the article. I remember reading it and thinking it seemed insanely high also, but I also know he sees a ton of horses.
Oh I thought you meant he lost that many horse in 2021. That many horses in over two decades is more reasonable when you consider the volume of horses through his barn.
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Poor Medina Spirit. I hope it was fast and painless.
The phrase “star-crossed” comes to mind. He was a very good, game horse. I’m sure his breeder is gutted.
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This news makes me immeasurably sad for a nice horse.
No way to know what impact his suspected contamination had on his past performance.
Who knows what other possible meds he’s had over his lifetime and if those had any impact on his health.
He deserved, IMO, better than what he got. 
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How convenient.
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Not really. There will be a necropsy, very thorough, so if the horse had something on board he shouldn’t, that’s going to come out.
Just saying - if I were a trainer doing something sneaky, I damn sure wouldn’t want the horse dropping dead on a track in CA, where necropsy is mandated. Plus insurance probably requires it.
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On one hand, I can believe this death was nothing but an unforseen tragedy. When my amazing Ranger died on XC, I can say for 110% certainty there was nothing in his system but hay, oats, water. No drugs or supplements of any kind, not even adequan, for months prior. Despite my doubts and regrets, every vet has told me there was nothing I could have done.
On the other hand, it is easy to follow a hazy line connecting dots… possibly whatever “supplements” boosting racing success may have weakened his system…or considering that an arranged freak death (insurance $) neatly simplifies the upcoming messy situation of finding the horse a lucrative stud career.
I don’t want to believe that, but there is so much negativity around Baffert that the conspiracy theories will be whispered and many will “wonder if.” Either way, it’s a terrible outcome for the sport .
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I agree that this is absolutely the last thing they wanted to happen because the scrutiny and negativity is going to skyrocket. My money is on them finding nothing but that still won’t be even remotely enough to quiet the critics.
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Just saw this all I keep saying is oh my god
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Really, really sad. I’m not fond of Baffert and some of his owners, but the horses can’t help who their connections are. I always liked Medina Spirit. He was a game racehorse and a trier. Like others said, he didn’t deserve this or the bad press. So sorry for Medina Spirit.
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Wow! I saw a post on social media and couldn’t believe it was true.
Godspeed Medina Spirit
This leaves a lot of question marks for sure.
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I can’t imagine a worse ending to this debacle.
He was a lovely horse.
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Because it couldn’t possilby be the “accumulation” and/or “culmination” of god-knows-what that has been given to this horse over time.
Sorry, but count me in as one of the cynics.
Find me trainers, worldwide, who have as much death in their barns, esp. w/younger horses, as Baffert, not even counting his “cluster deaths” and drug positives.
I am one who believes history of one’s actions and the events and outcomes of such gives testimony to what constitutes underlying truths.
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I quite literally and loudly gasped when I saw the news alert in my email.
Count me in with those who’ve said it’s not the horse’s fault who his connections are. He was an honest, hard trying, gutsy boy who outran expectations and his pedigree. I hope it was quick and relatively painless, regardless of the cause.
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I’m not disagreeing with you on whether the horse had medication-related issues that caused his death. That remains to be seen.
My post was addressing @Willesdon immediately preceding. I was saying that it is anything but “convenient” for Medina Spirit to die suddenly on the track in the midst of all the controversy.
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Bolding mine. You lost me there.
There are actually trainers with worse fatality records. You can google and find them.
I can never forgive Baffert for that thyroxine disaster. It proved that he would give substances to horses when there was no medical need for them and he should have known that it was killing them.
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I wrote my opinion.
However, I’m not going to engage in a debate, especially one that involves moral relativism.
To me, moral relatvism is like having a doctor who didn’t provide your loved one with quality care, but somebody says “but there are worse doctors out there”…
Anyway, I respect your opinion because we are all entitled to one. I just gave mine.
I have nothing useful beyond that to contrubute. It won’t help Medina Spirit anyway, nor will it make any difference in public opinion, which I’m sure will be wildly different for each individual.
But we agree about the Thryo-L…it was being given to EVERY horse in his barn, which Dr. Arthur at the time raised eyebrows about. And that is what I was talking about when I mentioned one’s history of behavior.
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You wrote “find me trainers worldwide, who have as much death in their barns…as Baffert…” which was your comparison of Baffert to other trainers.
What I wrote was not my moral relativism , it was my answer to yours. 
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I know there could be a lot of factors at play here - he could have had a congenital condition that finally just caught up to him (though maybe not helped by the drugs I’m sure he’s had over the years). I suppose that’s something the breeder and inquiry might address.
Another question I have is how many young Thoroughbreds die of heart attacks? Are stats kept?
But none of that really matters, I guess, at this stage. I also find it suspicious, but mostly just tragic. He deserved far better than this.
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They are called “heart attacks” but horses don’t have heart attacks (myocardial infarctions) as humans do, though they can have arrhythmias as humans can.
Horses that go down like that often have aortic ruptures.They are obvious on necropsy.
Sometimes, when a horse goes down and dies instantly, there are no findings on necropsy which leaves everyone wondering. I don’t believe that an arrhythmia could show up on necropsy but @Ghazzu is the one who will know best.
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