A split sample from Medina Spirit’s postrace blood sample will now be tested, and if the original results are confirmed, Baffert will have a chance to appeal.

The time frame for receiving the results from a requested split sample averages four to eight weeks, but could take up to six months, according to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Trainer suspended

In the meantime, Churchill Downs said it had “immediately suspended” Baffert “from entering any horses at Churchill Downs Racetrack.”

“Failure to comply with the rules and medication protocols jeopardizes the safety of the horses and jockeys, the integrity of our sport and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby and all who participate,” Churchill Downs said in a statement Sunday.

“We will await the conclusion of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s investigation before taking further steps.”

Baffert denied Medina Spirit, who trained and raced in California before the Derby, has ever been treated with betamethasone and said his team will conduct its own investigation.

“The testing is it’s been really tough everywhere we go in California, and that’s why we have all these rules now that, there’s a lot of transparency,” he said. “They know everything we give them and we have to write it down, we turn it in. So they know every medication this horse has gotten and betamethasone is not one of them.

“And that’s the troubling part of it. He wasn’t administered that drug.”

He said he has no idea how the drug ended up in the horse’s system.

Preakness in doubt

Horse race enthusiasts are keeping an eye on how this will impact Saturday’s Preakness Stakes. The race at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course is the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown.

Organizers said they will “review the relevant facts and information” related to Medina Spirit’s positive blood test and are consulting with the Maryland Racing Commission on any decision regarding the horse’s entry in the Preakness Stakes.

Baffert told CNN that as of Monday they were prepared to run the horse in Saturday’s race and the horse was at the time of the interview being transported from Kentucky to Maryland.

Baffert alleges ‘problems in racing’

Baffert alluded to previous controversies on Sunday — “I don’t feel safe to train,” he said — but cast the allegation about Medina Spirit as an issue with the broader horse racing industry, saying the industry “needs to step up and we need to do a better job in racing.”

“I’m not a conspiracy (theorist) — I know everybody’s not out to get me. But there’s definitely something wrong. Why is it happening, you know, to me?” he asked. “There’s problems in racing, but it’s not Bob Baffert.”

He told CNN that he knew some people were enjoying him having to deal with negative publicity.

“I’ve had some success with all these great horses and, you know, there’s a lot of people that there’s a lot of jealousy and animosity out there,” he said. “And I understand that I have my critics. But this is really, you know, when it happens in the most prestigious race in America, the Kentucky Derby, Bob Baffert is not stupid.”