# (Triple Crown winner) Justify on the Juice? Say it ain't so! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 12, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/triple-crown-winner-justify-on-the-juice-say-it-aint-so/840111 "2019-09-12T16:35:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/triple-crown-winner-justify-on-the-juice-say-it-aint-so/840111/1 "2019-09-12T16:35:55Z")
A report has come out that Justify, last year’s Triple Crown winning horse, failed a drug test that could have scratched the horse from racing in the Kentucky Derby. Justify tested positive for scopalamine, a banned performance enhancing drug after winning the Santa Anita Derby on April 7, 2018. California regulators didn’t notify Justify’s trainer, Bob Baffert, of the results until April 26. Baffert requested a second test by an independent lab, which confirmed the results on May 8, three days after Justify won the Kentucky Derby. > [@](#): > > The racing board then diverted from its normal course of action, according to the (New York) Times, which cited emails and internal memorandums it obtained. Rather than filing a complaint and holding a hearing, nothing happened until Aug. 23, four months after the failed test and two months after Justify had completed his Triple Crown run by winning the Belmont Stakes. > > The board’s executive director, Rick Baedeker, took the unprecedented path of presenting the case directly to the board’s commissioners, who voted unanimously to drop the case, according to the Times. > > The board reportedly decided that the test results could have come from Justify eating contaminated food. However, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s former drug lab chief, Rick Sams, told the Times that the amount of scopolamine in Justify’s system suggested it “has to come from intentional intervention.” > **[Report: Justify failed drug test before Triple Crown](https://www.espn.com/horse/story/_/id/27596093/report-justify-failed-drug-test-triple-crown)** > > Justify failed a drug test one month before the 2018 Kentucky Derby, and the California Horse Racing Board decided to dismiss the case after the colt went on to win the Triple Crown, The New York Times reported Wednesday. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/triple-crown-winner-justify-on-the-juice-say-it-aint-so/840111/2 "2019-09-12T16:48:50Z")
So now it’s Juicetify? If the lab results show this was intentional, then how can they let the Triple Crown stand? There are rules but if you get caught late enough then you get away with it. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/triple-crown-winner-justify-on-the-juice-say-it-aint-so/840111/3 "2019-09-12T16:58:00Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > So now it’s Juicetify? If the lab results show this was intentional, then how can they let the Triple Crown stand? There are rules but if you get caught late enough then you get away with it. I know nothing and this is purely a conspiracy theory but when I first read the article yesterday, the first thought that went through my head was, “somebody made a very large donation to someone’s favorite charity” Or more likely, Bob Baffort or the owner delayed it until such a point where the federation doesn’t want to take the wins away.