Bob Baffert’s Nationwide Treasure wins Preakness, hours after one other of his horses was euthanized

Bob Baffert choked again tears and his voice cracked whereas making an attempt to juggle the emotions of considered one of his horses profitable the Preakness Stakes and one other being euthanized on the identical monitor.

“This enterprise is twists and turns, the ups and downs,” he stated. “To win this — shedding that horse at the moment actually harm. … It has been a really emotional day.”

Nationwide Treasure gained the Preakness on Saturday in Baffert’s return to the Triple Crown path following a suspension, but it surely got here hours after one other 3-year-old colt, Havnameltdown, was put down due to a left leg damage in an undercard race. The victory ended Mage’s bid for the Triple Crown in a conflicting scene much like that of two weeks earlier when he gained the Kentucky Derby within the aftermath of seven horses dying in 10 days at Churchill Downs.

Nationwide Treasure, the 5-2 second alternative, held off hard-charging Blazing Sevens down the stretch to win the 1 3/16-mile, $1.65 million race by a head in 1:55.12.

“He fought the entire means,” jockey John Velazquez stated. “He put up a very good combat. … That is what champions do.”

Nationwide Treasure paid $7.80 to win, $4 to position and $2.60 to indicate. Blazing Sevens paid $5 to position and $2.80 to indicate.

Mage completed third after going off because the 7-5 favourite, paying $2.40 to indicate. His defeat, attributable to a tempo a lot slower than the Derby, means there won’t be a Triple Crown winner for a fifth consecutive yr.

“I adopted each single step of the way in which, the winner,” Mage jockey Javier Castellano stated. “However these horses, with tempo, no velocity within the race, exhausting to catch.”

Very similar to Castellano gained the Derby in his sixteenth strive, Velazquez broke an 0-for-12 drought within the Preakness.

“It has been some time,” Velazquez stated. “The success that I had in different races, not having gained this one — it was undoubtedly lacking, so particular to have it.”

Baffert had a rollercoaster day, again at Pimlico Race Course from a suspension that saved him from coming into a horse within the Preakness final yr. The fun of victories by Nationwide Treasure within the Preakness and Arabian Lion in an earlier stakes race contrasted with the agony of Havnameltdown’s dying.

Black boundaries have been propped up on the filth monitor whereas the horse was put down. All of the whereas, 2Pac’s “California Love” blared from the infield audio system at what is meant as an annual daylong celebration of thoroughbred racing.

By night, Baffert was celebrated for profitable the Preakness for a file eighth time, breaking a tie with Nineteenth-century coach R. Wyndham Walden. In 2018, Baffert matched Walden with seven wins on the Baltimore race with Justify, who went on to turn into the game’s thirteenth Triple Crown winner — and Baffert’s second, after American Pharoah ended a prolonged drought for the game in 2015.

This was Baffert’s first Preakness in two years due to a ban stemming from 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit’s failed drug check that led to a disqualification in that race. Medina Spirit was Baffert’s most up-to-date Preakness horse, ending third.

Baffert did not arrive in Baltimore till Thursday this week, in search of to maintain a decrease profile than regular given the questions which have dogged him and clouded his fame. A Corridor of Famer and a longtime face of horse racing, Baffert sought to maneuver previous his suspension when requested Friday.

“We simply carry on shifting ahead,” he stated. “We’ve got different horses to fret about. Numerous it’s noise, so you retain the noise out and proceed working.”

Whereas horse racing deaths within the U.S. are at their lowest degree since they started being tracked in 2009, including one other on the monitor internet hosting a Triple Crown race will solely intensify the inner and exterior scrutiny of the business. These inside it have stated they settle for the realities of on-track deaths of horses whereas additionally acknowledging extra work must be achieved to stop as many as doable.

In that vein, new nationwide medicine and doping guidelines are set to enter impact on Monday. The federally mandated Horseracing Integrity and Security Authority, which already regulated racetrack security and different measures, will oversee drug testing necessities for horses that ought to standardize the game nationwide for the primary time.