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National Treasure took home the 148th Preakness Stakes in Baltimore on Saturday.
National Treasure and Blazing Sevens were neck-and-neck down the stretch, but the Bob Baffert-trained horse held on for the victory in 1:55.12 — it was Baffert’s 17th Triple Crown win, and his eighth victory at the Preakness.
In Mage’s attempt to keep his Triple Crown bid alive, he again tried to come from the outside, just like his Kentucky Derby victory, but he couldn’t break ahead and finished in third.
Much like the Derby Day, though, Preakness Day was not all sunshine and rainbows, and in his return from a two-year suspension from the sport, Baffert again found himself in trouble.
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A horse trained by Baffert had to be euthanized after the sixth race at the racecourse Saturday.
Havnameltdown suffered what Pimlico owners called a “non-operable” injury to his leg – doctors decided to put down the horse.
The horse’s jockey, Luis Saez, flew off the horse and was also hospitalized.
Baffert recently completed a two-year suspension stemming from a positive drug test on Medina Spirit following the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The horse crossed the finish line first in that race, but was disqualified due to the test – the thoroughbred died that December.
PETA, who previously called Churchill Downs a “killing field,” sounded off on horse racing and Baffert himself.
“Pimlico should have followed Churchill Downs’ example and barred Bob Baffert from the track. Baffert has been implicated in drugging scandals, the deaths of seven horses who collapsed in California, and at least 75 horses in his care have died,” the organization said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The tragic death of Havnameltdown is the latest in a long line of fatalities. The racing industry must kick out the bad guys or it will have blood on its hands as well as blood on its tracks.”
The Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, will take place on June 10 in New York.
