(CNN) - Triple Crown winner Justify tested positive for drugs in California weeks before he won the Kentucky Derby last year, The New York Times reported.
If the state's horse racing officials had followed the rules, the failed drug test would have disqualified the 3-year-old chestnut colt from the famous derby, the paper said in the explosive report Wednesday night.
Justify won the Santa Anita Derby on April 7 last year, then failed the drug test after that race, according to the paper.
Just over two weeks later, on May 5, Justify won the Kentucky Derby, the first of the three races that make up the Triple Crown.
"In addition, I had no input into, or influence on, the decisions made by the California Horse Racing Board," Baffert said.