One death, one champ: 2023 Preakness Stakes highlights conflict in beloved, but deadly sport

One horse was crowned champion. Another died on the track.

The 148th running of the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore highlighted the great conflict in horse racing, which has recently faced national scrutiny: The sport is dramatic, exhilarating and a part of Maryland’s very fabric. At the same time, it causes young, otherwise healthy horses to die.

Two horses trained by the famed-but-controversial Bob Baffert — who was suspended from last year’s Preakness following a failed drug test by one of his horses — had cruelly disparate fates at Pimlico on Saturday.

Havnameltdown was quickly euthanized after suffering a leg injury during a race early in the day. Then, in the marquee race, another Baffert horse, National Treasure, won an enthralling finish as tens of thousands of racing and concert fans flocked and reveled at Baltimore’s most iconic annual event, just as they have for nearly a century and a half.

There were essentially two separate spectacles at the track on a pleasant, overcast day. Many attended for the musical festival — including a performance by pop star Bruno Mars after the race — in the infield, while longtime fans of the sport enjoyed a classic day at the races at Pimlico Race Course, built in 1870.

A recent gloom has clouded racing, however.

Horse deaths at Anne Arundel County’s Laurel Park paused racing there last month and seven deaths in the run-up to the Kentucky Derby, thoroughbred racing’s brightest stage, were a grim reminder of the sport’s realities (despite a decline in racing deaths in recent years).

Racing fans crossed their fingers that there would be no similar casualties Saturday, but in the day’s sixth race, Havnameltdown broke down, throwing his jockey. The 3-year-colt died on the track, the first racing death on a Preakness day since 2016.

The Preakness field itself was not particularly awe-inspiring as just seven horses entered the race, the fewest since 1986. Only one Derby entrant, Mage, ran in the Preakness as many trainers opted against racing their star horses on just two weeks’ rest, a recent trend. Saturday marked the first time since 1948 that only one horse raced in both of the Triple Crown’s first two jewels.

In spite of that and of the typical grumbling over Pimlico’s decrepit and deteriorating condition, fans were generally cheerful, lapping up what organizers aptly described as “Baltimore’s Biggest Party.”

Early Saturday, as Ramiro Restrepo — the co-owner of Kentucky Derby winner Mage, who finished third Saturday — walked into the venue, he summarized the mystique the race still holds.

“It’s exciting man, it’s Pimlico, it’s Preakness, it’s a historical race. Brother, we’re over the moon,” he said of being at Old Hilltop.

Racing fan Steve Dempsey, 66, has attended the Preakness since 1998. “It’s just a Baltimore tradition,” he explained.

Lillian Braswell Wise, 65, has sold food and drinks outside Pimlico on Preakness Saturdays for more than a decade. The Park Heights native lives in Philadelphia, but sets up a food stand complete with a myriad of foods including crab cakes.

“It’s the environment. It’s the people,” she said of coming every year. “You meet great people from all over the world.”

Attendance figures for the event were not available Saturday evening, but last year’s attendance (about 60,000) paled in comparison to previous years (an average of 135,000 a year during the five years before the coronavirus pandemic) as organizers “re-imagined” the event, they said. The decline in attendance worried some attendees about what it means for the future of Maryland racing; for others, it meant smaller crowds to deal with.

Mike Suter of Fallston said that if he were to watch and bet from home, he’d miss out on what makes the event so special.

“It’s the thrill. It’s the experience,” he said.

Those in the infield similarly enjoyed themselves, but in different ways. Some kept an eye on the races, while others had never heard of Mage. One pointed to the thrill of anticipating a performance from Mars, calling him “one of the biggest singers of the 2010s.”

The infield party began in the morning and continued well into the evening. It did not stop around 1:30 p.m., when Havnameltdown suffered the catastrophic injury. As the horse was euthanized on the track and his jockey, Luis Saez, was taken to Sinai Hospital with a leg injury, Tupac’s “California Love” blasted from the infield’s powerful speakers. Dance hits like “Jump On It” and “My Boo” followed shortly after.

For some fans, the death didn’t sour the day. Fatalities happen, they pointed out.

“It’s part of the game,” said Dempsey.

And in the infield, ignorance and festivities were bliss.

Isabella Glorioso, 21, who attended the event for both the race and to watch Bruno Mars, was unaware that a horse had died. Noting that she understood the nature of the industry, she said she was still “quite saddened” by the news.

“It’s pretty messed up that a horse would just die and they would continue like nothing happened,” she said.

Zach Siegel learned of the death upon his arrival at the track.

“I said, very sarcastically, ‘I just hope all the horses have fun,’” he said. “And then the one [staff member] turned around and goes, ‘Well, one just died.’”

Said his friend, Nikhil Mehta: “It really feels like in this day and age, there should be a better way to deal with it.”

Outside the track, about 40 people holding signs with messages like “You Bet, They Die” protested the industry. Some attendees passing by took issue with their signs, arguing that racing creates jobs and, generally, provides horses with good lives.

“This is all just another day at the races, unfortunately,” said Jennifer Sully, a local organizer with Horseracing Wrongs. “It’s very sad that this horse died, but it’s just business as usual.”

The condition of Pimlico was business as usual, too. The track, shabby as ever, greeted fans.

A year ago, $375 million in state funds were expected to renovate both Pimlico and Laurel. Part of that plan also called for developing and improving Park Heights, the impoverished neighborhood surrounding the track. But the plan to fix up both tracks proved impractical. It is now apparent that only one track — very likely Pimlico, renowned for its tradition — will be improved.

David Whiters, 59, lives a couple of blocks from Pimlico. He’s not a racing fan (he washed his car as throngs streamed to the track), but he’d like to see the facility, and its surrounding area, receive a boost. He’s pessimistic that it’ll happen, though.

“I really would like to see them renovate it, upgrade it, just make it nice. And then if you’re going to do that, then do something with the neighborhood,” he said Saturday morning.

Asked about the future of the two tracks, Belinda Stronach — the chairwoman and president of 1/ST Racing (also known as The Stronach Group), which owns the tracks, did not go into detail.

“I’m very positive about the future and working with our partners and the stakeholders and the city and the state, and all of our partners,” she said.

In addition to the thousands of racegoers, there were also political leaders and celebrities in attendance, like Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, Democratic Mayor Brandon Scott and Ravens coach John Harbaugh. Ravens wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. performed the “riders up” call ahead of the big race.

As noticeable as those present, though, were the would-be attendees who opted not to go.

Ken Robertson, 72, of Ellicott City, attended the Preakness 15 straight years before 2020. He watched this year’s running from his 75-inch TV, however, preferring the comforts of his couch to the high prices of the event.

He had long “tolerated” the practical issues at Pimlico — “I mean, the facility is just atrocious, it’s horrendous, but we still went every year,” he said — but when 1/ST last year asked roughly 50% more for the same seats he’d had for years, Robertson chose to skip.

Robertson became a racing fan the way many have — he was mesmerized by a powerful, indomitable horse. In his case, it was the greatest of them all, Secretariat, who won the Triple Crown 50 years ago. “Just fell in love with it and fell in love with that horse. I became a fan that day and have been ever since,” he said.

He hopes there were young, soon-to-be racing fans who were captivated Saturday by a horse the way he was by Secretariat.

But he’s also skeptical of the sport’s future and was “discouraged” by the death of Havnameltdown. That doesn’t mean he’s giving up on the Preakness yet, though. He still cherishes the sport’s magic, its pageantry and, most of all, its horses.

“I don’t plan to sit this out forever,” he said.” I’ll be back. I know I will. I know I’ll be there.”