I was surprised by the extent of the damage, but I think I’ve only read one other necropsy of a racehorse (Eight Belles, before they pulled it from the internet) so I don’t know what’s “normal wear and tear” for a 3 year old racehorse either.
I wouldn’t have thought Medina Spirit could have gone on racing for much longer, but Baffert seemed to think so. With all the imaging they have available, surely they could have seen at least some of the damage if they had looked?
I was struck by the number of times the word “rare” appeared throughout that report in a lot of different areas.
Wow, 18 times!
@Event_Horse and @bingbingbing, I don’t think “rare” in a necropsy means what you think it does. It’s my understanding that in a necropsy “rare” means, found very infrequently in that particular necropsied horse and/or that horse’s organ that is being examined, not rare as in rare in all horses.
Hopefully @ghazzu will correct me if I’m wrong.
That’s my take on it as well. Standard pathologist-speak.
As opposed to something like “numerous aggregates”, “widespread cell lysis” or something similar.
Thanks for the reply Ghazzu.
The NY Post is regarded, by most people, as the equivalent to the National Enquirer.
They haven’t got their facts right about the Thyroxine deaths. It was a terrible thing to administer to racehorses IMHO, but they could at least do some research and get the facts right about how the Thyroxine was administered before they publish.
Not surprised that they didn’t. Not known for their accurate journalism are they. 
Yeah, that jumped right out about the thyroxine.
Gotcha, thanks!
Exactly right.
In all my decades working in different barns and different disciplines - including on the backside and on breeding farms - necropsies of a sudden death rarely came up with any definitive causes. An exception being a stallion who dropped in his paddock and was found to have an enlarged heart and a ruptured aorta.
A BO I worked for was saddened by two foals who died one spring - one arriving stillborn and one a couple of weeks old and doing well - and sent them out for tests and necropsies. No issues were found. They just… stopped. Failure to thrive.
Saddest of all - a beloved eight year old warmblood mare standing calmly in the cross ties who just sank to the floor in slow motion. By the time she settled into a heap on the floor she was gone. Necropsy found… nothing.
It’s an awful thing to happen and I was really hoping that there would be an explanation (ruptured aorta or some identifiable cause) because now the speculation will continue. Some of the non-horse press (and not just the NY Post), is bound to conflate the Servis et al doping, with this horse’s death.
I think most people who have spent a lot of time with horses know someone who has lost a horse in this manner. It’s a terrible shock when a horse just dies out of the blue.
I’m sorry about the mare in the cross ties, that must have been horrible.
Baffert skates again?
His lawyers are hoping so. Doesn’t mean it will happen. 
This article addresses Baffert’s attorneys claims and the silence from the KHRC.
Just out of curiousity, is there a equivalent ointment to ‘Otomax’ licenced for use on horses?
I think if there was an equivalent, they wouldn’t be using the Otomax off label. However, I can’t claim to understand what medications Baffert and his vets find acceptable to administer to horses (thyroxine?) of for what reasons.
They did claim to have used “shampoos” that should have helped before they went with the Betamethasone ointment. In my opinion they broke the rules. Period. There is no excuse to be so careless. The horse tested positive. Of course, the horses that Baffert trained before that tested positive, were forgiven to a great extent, so Baffert has had no impetus to run a tight ship.
I think they used it off-label because they needed it to mask the other stuff.
I think Panalog is relatively equivalent.
It is roughly equivalent, as it has antibacterial, antifungal, and corticosteroid components, but it isn’t licensed for horses, either.
I have had it prescribed for horses with skin issues. An off label use?
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