Horse Racing

8:00 AM ET The 153rd Belmont Stakes marks the final leg of the Triple Crown. Essential Quality, who finished fourth as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s race. Post time is 6:49 p.m. ET. Rombauer upset Medina Spirit, winner (for now) of the Kentucky Derby, to take the

4:38 PM ET ESPN News Services Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert was suspended for two years by Churchill Downs on Wednesday after Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit tested positive for a steroid in two different postrace drug samples. The suspension begins immediately and lasts through the 2023 Spring Meet at the race track. Attorneys

5:51 PM ET Associated Press The chairman of horse racing’s future governing body said the failed drug test of Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit shows the need for a uniform set of rules and penalties in place of the sport’s current patchwork system. In his first public comments since being appointed chairman of the Horseracing

11:11 AM ET ESPN News Services Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit is facing disqualification after testing on a second postrace sample confirmed the presence of the the steroid betamethasone, a lawyer who represents the horse’s owner confirmed to the New York Times. Attorney Clark Brewster told the newspaper that a laboratory at UC Davis confirmed

3:14 PM ET Associated Press RED BANK, N.J. — Sam Boulmetis Sr., a Hall of Famer who rode for nearly 20 years and won most of his four jockey titles at Monmouth Park in the 1950s, has died. He was 94. He died Sunday at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, his family said. Boulmetis

12:21 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Essential Quality was set Tuesday as a 2-1 favorite for the Belmont Stakes, which will be run without a horse from trainer Bob Baffert pending an investigation into Medina Spirit’s failed drug test after winning the Kentucky Derby. Preakness winner Rombauer and Essential Quality headline a field

10:02 PM ET Associated Press ARCADIA, Calif. — Country Grammer edged Royal Ship by a head to win the $300,000 Hollywood Gold Cup, giving embattled trainer Bob Baffert his record-tying eighth victory in the Grade 1 race at Santa Anita. Baffert tied fellow Hall of Famer Charlie Whittingham, who won his eighth and last Gold

1:09 PM ET ESPN staff Double Asian Games silver medalist Fouaad Mirza officially confirmed his Tokyo Olympics spot, finishing second and third respectively on Seigneur Medicott and Dajara 4 to complete his Minimum Eligibility Requirement in the CCI4*- L at the Baborowko Equestrian festival Poland this weekend. It makes him only the third Indian equestrian

5:11 PM ET Associated Press LOS ANGELES — The California Horse Racing Board will honor any action against Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert by other states if his license is suspended or revoked after a hearing and due process. Churchill Downs in Kentucky and the New York Racing Association’s Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga tracks

4:47 PM ET Associated Press Bob Baffert was suspended Monday from entering horses at New York racetracks, pending an investigation into Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit’s failed postrace drug test. Baffert will temporarily not be allowed to stable any horses at Belmont Park, Aqueduct Racetrack and Saratoga Race Course or run any of his horses

7:01 PM ET ESPN News Services Rombauer beat out Medina Spirit and Midnight Bourbon down the stretch to win the 2021 Preakness Stakes. Rombauer entered the second leg of the Triple Crown at 11-1 odds. Disputed Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit finished third after clearing three rounds of prerace testing on Friday. Trainer Bob Baffert

5:05 PM ET ESPN News Services Medina Spirit has passed three rounds of prerace drug testing and been cleared to run in the Preakness on Saturday. Maryland racing officials said Friday tests on the Kentucky Derby winner and fellow Bob Baffert-trained Concert Tour came back with nothing that would cause them to be scratched from

6:43 PM ET Associated Press BALTIMORE — Army Wife pulled off a mild upset win in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday at Pimlico Race Course as embattled trainer Bob Baffert’s favored Beautiful Gift finished a well-beaten seventh. Mike Maker, a former assistant trainer for Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, saddled the winner. Army

6:31 AM ET The 146th Preakness Stakes marks the second leg of the Triple Crown. Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit is the favorite to win Saturday at Pimlico. Here is a breakdown of every horse in the Preakness Stakes, suggested plays and picks. Note: Horses listed in order of post position (trainer, jockey in parentheses).

5:00 PM ET ESPN.com staff Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit is the favorite to win Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. 1 Related Trainer Bob Baffert has been under scrutiny after Medina Spirit failed a postrace drug test, but an agreement was reached Tuesday to allow the horse to race Saturday. The

3:13 PM ET ESPN News Services Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit will race in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes after an agreement was reached after Bob Baffert agreed to prerace blood testing, monitoring and medical review, the trainer’s attorney announced Tuesday. The oversight will also apply for the Baffert-trained horse Concert Tour, according to attorney W. Craig

11:31 AM ET ESPN News Services Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was treated with an antifungal ointment containing the steroid betamethasone that caused the horse to fail a postrace drug test, trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday. In a statement issued by his lawyer, Baffert said Medina Spirit was treated for dermatitis with the ointment once

3:36 PM ET ESPN News Services LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit is headed to Baltimore for the Preakness Stakes while trainer Bob Baffert said Monday that he won’t attend the race to avoid being a distraction in the wake of scrutiny following the colt’s failed postrace drug test. Medina Spirit’s Derby win