Let’s get it back to horse racing.

You probably heard over the weekend that Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failed a postrace drug test, which threw the entire thing upside down. The horse’s trainer, Bob Baffert, is a Hall of Famer who denied doping allegations but has been banned by Churchill Downs from entering any horses at the race track while a follow up “split sample” from the colt is being tested.

Baffert went on Fox News to talk about the situation, and a lot of media outlets took one of his quotes and ran with it:

It’s a “cancel culture kind of a thing?” 

I’m not sure he actually knows what that phrase means, but to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, he was referring specifically to the statement put out by Churchill Downs, which announced Baffert’s suspension like this:

If he’s got a gripe that they went out and took action before the investigation was completed, then I guess that would make some sense, but it just seems like standard protocol here. They are testing the split sample, they will see if the findings are upheld, and then proceed from there. While that takes place, they’re putting Baffert on ice, which is what you’d get in most professional competitions and sports leagues around the world. If you’re currently embroiled in some kind of legal thing, even if you haven’t been formally charged or convicted, you are oftentimes kept out of competition pending the results of the investigation or specific case.

But Baffert talking about “cancel culture” on Fox News probably doesn’t help his case, especially not when he’s had issues with horses and drug tests in the past. Thirty of Baffert’s horses have failed drug tests over the years, and because there’s a history here, obviously people are gonna label the guy a cheater, even though this Medina Spirit case remains open.