Bob Baffert, essentially the most completed and controversial horse coach in America, returned to the Triple Crown path on Saturday and watched his colt National Treasure win the 148th operating of the Preakness Stakes. The victory got here after Baffert’s two-year ban from the game’s premier stage due to a doping violation, and hours after one other one among his horses died competing in an undercard race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
It was the type of afternoon that makes many Americans marvel how lengthy America’s oldest sport can proceed to have its social license renewed.
Earlier within the afternoon, one other of Baffert’s 3-year-old colts, Havnameltdown, buckled across the far flip within the $200,000 Chick Lang Stakes, tumbled to the bottom and unseated his rider Luis Saez.
In a grim scene that recalled the seven horses that died within the days main as much as the Kentucky Derby, veterinarians swarmed to the distressed colt, erected a display so the gang readily available and tv watchers couldn’t look on, and euthanized him by injection.
About 5 hours later, a jubilant Baffert was combating again tears as he talked about National Treasure, who edged out Blazing Sevens by a head. The Kentucky Derby winner Mage, compromised by a sluggish tempo, completed third.
The victory was Baffert’s eighth within the second leg of the Triple Crown, breaking a document by R. Wyndham Walden, a coach of the late nineteenth century. It was the primary Preakness win for the Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez, a evident gap in a résumé full of marquee wins.
“This enterprise is twists and turns, ups and downs,” Baffert stated after National Treasure received. “Losing that horse right now actually harm. I’m very glad for Johnny that he bought the win. It’s been a really emotional day.”
National Treasure lined the mile and three-sixteenths in 1 minute 55.12 seconds and rewarded his backers with $7.80 on a $2 wager to win the $1.65 million race.
“Gosh, it has been some time,” Velazquez stated of his long-sought victory. “With all of the blessings that I’ve had and all of the success I’ve had in different races, not having received this one was positively lacking.”
Baffert, 70, skilled Medina Spirit, who received the 2021 Kentucky Derby however failed a check for a prohibited drug, changing into solely the second horse within the Derby’s historical past to have his victory revoked due to a drug violation. The colt died all of a sudden the next December, presumably from a coronary heart assault. A necropsy performed by California state veterinarians was inconclusive.
Baffert, a two-time Triple Crown winner, has since served a suspension handed down by Kentucky regulators and a two-year ban from the Derby and its host, Churchill Downs. Last yr, Baffert was serving his Kentucky suspension throughout the Triple Crown, so the racing commissions in Maryland and New York stored him from the Preakness and the Belmont.
His triumphant return to Pimlico was marred by the loss of life of Havnameltdown. The horse was euthanized by veterinarians on the racetrack after being examined by a group led by Dr. Dionne Benson, chief veterinary officer for the corporate that owns Pimlico.
“During the next analysis, she noticed a non-operable left fore fetlock damage,” the corporate, the Stronach Group, stated in an announcement, referring to a joint within the horse’s foreleg. “Due to the severity and prognosis of the damage, Dr. Benson and her counterparts made the tough determination to humanely euthanize Havnameltdown.”
Saez, Havnameltdown’s rider, was transported to Sinai Hospital in Baltimore after complaining of leg ache. He was in steady situation and acutely aware, based on the corporate.
Velazquez, the Hall of Famer who rode National Treasure, stated he was rocked by the loss of life on the racetrack.
“Truthfully, it felt like a knife to my coronary heart once I noticed it,” Velazquez stated of the accidents to the horse and his counterpart, Saez. “It’s devastating whenever you see it. It’s onerous to remain targeted and preserve going.”
After the deaths at Churchill Downs forward of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness officers took a cautious strategy to pre-race examinations. First Mission, the 5-2 second alternative within the morning line, was scratched from the race early Friday morning with an unspecified left hind-ankle damage.
The additional scrutiny was prolonged to each horse competing over the weekend. Officials required two veterinary authorizations earlier than a horse was allowed to run — one from the coach’s personal vet, the opposite from the regulatory vet within the state the place the horse was stabled earlier than coming to Baltimore.
Stronach Group officers declined to remark about how Havnameltdown was cleared to run within the race regardless of the additional analysis.
Baffert, too, had no clarification.
“It’s the worst feeling,” Baffert stated Saturday. “And we grieve. We do grieve when these items occur. There’s nothing worse than coming again and the stall is empty.”
Animal rights activists blamed the game’s homeowners and trainers for a lackadaisical effort to guard horses.
They pointed to the opposition of horsemen’s teams to the newly minted Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, created by Congress below the supervision of the Federal Trade Commission, which is able to grow to be the ruling physique of the game on Monday.
Kathy Guillermo, a senior vice chairman of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, stated that the drug violations and fatalities amongst horses in Baffert’s care demanded higher scrutiny.
“Pimlico ought to have adopted Churchill Downs’ instance and barred Bob Baffert from the observe,” she stated.
Melissa Hoppert contributed reporting.