2023 Preakness Stakes: National Treasure wins 148th running for trainer Bob Baffert

On a day marred by a death in his barn, trainer Bob Baffert made a triumphant return to the Preakness Stakes, winning his record-breaking eighth with National Treasure.

Baffert missed last year’s Triple Crown series because he was suspended for a medication violation that disqualified Medina Spirit from his 2021 victory in the Kentucky Derby. But the white-haired Hall of Fame trainer was back at Pimlico Race Course for a race he has dominated since he won his first Preakness with Silver Charm in 1997.

With National Treasure’s victory, Baffert became the winningest Preakness trainer in history, breaking a tie with 19th-century trainer R. Wyndham Walden. He last won the race in 2018 with Triple Crown winner Justify.

Blazing Sevens finished second and Kentucky Derby winner Mage came in third.

Despite his track record in Baltimore, Baffert did not exactly gush over National Treasure’s chances, saying the colt “looked fine” the morning before the race.

“Is he the caliber of Mage?” Baffert said, drawing a comparison to the Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness favorite. “I don’t know. I think Mage is a good horse. Anytime you have a horse that has only had a few outs and wins the Kentucky Derby, that is pretty impressive.”

National Treasure, ridden by Baffert’s go-to big-race jockey John Velazquez, had won just once in five previous starts, with the trainer describing him as a potential late bloomer comfortable with the 1 3/16-mile distance of the Preakness.

The Preakness went off under a lingering shadow cast by a spate of seven racehorse deaths at Churchill Downs in the run-up to the Kentucky Derby. Those who love the sport had crossed their fingers, hoping the second leg of the Triple Crown series would avoid similar tragedy, but it was not to be. Bob Baffert-trained Havnameltdown severely injured his left front ankle in the sixth undercard race and was euthanized on the track. The 3-year-old colt threw his rider, Luis Saez, who was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, conscious but complaining of leg pain.

Racing went on, just as it did after two horses suffered fatal injuries on this year’s Derby undercard and after two horses died on Preakness day in 2016.

The field of seven was the smallest for the Preakness since 1986, with only one carry-over from the Kentucky Derby, the smallest total since the Triple Crown series went to its current format more than 50 years ago.

With top trainers and owners reluctant to run their most talented 3-year-olds on just two weeks’ rest, the Preakness has largely become a target for horses that do not earn enough qualifying points to enter the Derby. That trend has led to calls for a more extended Triple Crown calendar to line up with modern training habits, but many traditionalists within the sport prefer to keep the three-race series as is.

Baffert, who won Triple Crowns with American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify, is among those who do not want to see a change. “No. I think it would lose its tradition,” he said. “It’s the last that we have. It’s important.”

This story will be updated.

155th Belmont Stakes

Elmont, New York

Saturday, June 10

Post time: Approximately 6:50 p.m.

TV: Chs. 45, 5