Global Courant 2023-05-21 05:02:35
Bob Baffert swallowed tears and his voice cracked as he tried to juggle the feelings of one of his horses winning the Preakness Stakes and another being euthanized on the same course.
“This business is twists and turns, the ups and downs,” he said. “To win this – losing that horse today really hurts. … It was a very emotional day.”
National Treasure won the Preakness on Saturday in Baffert’s return to the Triple Crown course from a suspension, but it came hours after another 3-year-old colt, Havnameltdown, was dropped due to a left leg injury in an undercard race. The win ended Mage’s bid for the Triple Crown in a conflicting scene similar to that of two weeks earlier when he won the Kentucky Derby in the wake of seven horses dying in 10 days at Churchill Downs.
National Treasure, the second pick at 5-2, held off the hard-hitting Blazing Sevens on the stretch to win the 1 3/16-mile, $1.65 million race by a lead in 1:55.12.
“He fought all the way,” jockey John Velazquez said. “He fought really well. … That’s what champions do.”
National Treasure paid $7.80 to win, $4 to post, and $2.60 to show. Blazing Sevens paid $5 to post and $2.80 to show.
Mage finished third after going off as the 7-5 favorite and paying $2.40 to show. His defeat, caused by a much slower pace than the Derby, means there will be no Triple Crown winner for the fifth consecutive year.
“I followed every step of the way, the winner,” said Mage jockey Javier Castellano. “But those horses, with pace, no speed in the race, hard to catch.”
Just as Castellano won the Derby in his 16th attempt, Velazquez broke an 0-for-12 goal drought in the Preakness.
“It’s been a while,” Velazquez said. “The success I had in other races, not winning this one – it was definitely missing, so special to have it.”
Baffert had a rollercoaster day, back at Pimlico Race Course from a suspension that kept him from putting a horse in the Preakness last year. The thrill of National Treasure victories in the Preakness and Arabian Lion in an earlier stakes race contrasted with the agony of Havnameltdown’s death.
Black barriers were propped up on the dirt road as the horse was put down. All the while, 2Pac’s “California Love” blared from the speakers in the field during what is meant to be an annual celebration of a day of thoroughbred racing.
In the evening, Baffert was celebrated for winning the Preakness for a record eighth time, breaking a tie with 19th century trainer R. Wyndham Walden. In 2018, Baffert tied Walden with seven wins in the Baltimore race with Justify, who became the sport’s 13th Triple Crown winner – and Baffert’s second, after USA’s Pharoah ended a long drought for the sport in 2015.
This was Baffert’s first Preakness in two years due to a ban stemming from the failed drug test of 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, which led to a disqualification in that race. Medina Spirit was Baffert’s most recent Preakness horse, finishing third.
Baffert arrived in Baltimore just Thursday this week, trying to keep a lower profile than usual given the questions that dogged him and clouded his reputation. Baffert, a Hall of Famer and longtime face of horse racing, was trying to get around his suspension when asked to do so on Friday.
“We’ll just keep going,” he said. “We have other horses to worry about. A lot of it is noise, so you keep the noise out and just keep working.”
While horse racing deaths in the US are at their lowest levels since they were tracked in 2009, adding another one to the track hosting a Triple Crown race will only intensify the industry’s internal and external scrutiny. Those in it have said they accept the reality of horse deaths on the track, while also acknowledging that more work needs to be done to prevent as many as possible.
In that spirit, new national medication and doping rules will take effect on Monday. The federally mandated Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, which already regulated track safety and other measures, will oversee drug testing requirements for horses that should standardize the sport nationwide for the first time.
