Medina Spirit, winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby, collapsed and died Monday morning on the track at Santa Anita following a workout. No official cause of death has been announced pending a necropsy, although a cadiac event is suspected.
“At the end of the breeze, he was slowing down at the wire,” reported Dr. Jeff Blea, California Horse Racing Board equine medical director. “Right after the wire, he looked odd, and you could see the horse stagger and then he just laid down past the wire. Track vets got to him right away, but he was already gone. These types of things are presumed to be cardio-vascular events.”
The Florida-bred 3-year-old colt by Protonico was finishing a five-furlong breeze around 7:45 a.m. when he collapsed near the finish line.