Preakness Stakes (Grade 1)

THE tale of the build up to the 2023 Preakness Stakes was around one horse, the Kentucky Derby winner Mage. Could he win the second leg of the Triple Crown? Afterwards, it was the tale of a trainer and rider.

With second favourite First Mission a late absentee, Mage’s task was made easier but he was not able to pick up as he had done off the fast pace in Churchill Downs. The slower pace here left the next two in the betting, the Bob Baffert-trained National Treasure and the Chad Brown-trained Blazing Sevens in a great head-to-head duel down the Pimlico stretch.

Baffert had not been allowed to have runners in Kentucky since Medina Spirit’s positive drug test in 2021 but he was the winningmost Preakness trainer with seven previous successes.

It was also a first Preakness success to complete the full classic set for 51-year-old rider John Velazquez.

Three wins in the Kentucky Derby, two in the Belmont Stakes and 19 in Breeders’ Cup races among more than 6,500 victories made him US racing’s all-time earnings leader and his top horses have included some of the most popular runners of the past decades, Rags To Riches, Animal Kingdom and Wise Dan.

It was a vintage performance on a colt who had disappointed in the Santa Anita Derby and now wore first time blinkers.

He broke from the rail smoothly with National Treasure, opened a clear lead on the backstretch a second quarter in 24.57secs and when chased by longshot Coffeewithchris and Blazing Sevens, slowed the pace down to a 1m13.49secs for a half mile.

Ranged up

When Blazing Sevens and Irad Ortiz Jr. ranged up alongside them at the top of the stretch, Velazquez had enough left for National Treasure to fend off Blazing Sevens’ determined bid.

National Treasure covered the mile, a furlong and a half in 1m 55.12secs. The two horses made contact down the stretch but there was no stewards’ inquiry.

“What a moment. All I can say, when you try to ride your best and the horse responds to everything you want him to do, that’s all it takes; the horse giving you everything they can. That’s what you hope for and that’s what he did,” Velazquez said.

Baffert was emotional when interviewed in the immediate aftermath as the trainer suffered the loss one of his horses, Havnameltdown, to a fatal injury in the earlier Grade 3 Chick Lang Stakes, an incident which left Luis Saez transported off to hospital though he had recovered by the following day.

Baffert said: “We’ve been through a tough go. But we knew we would get through this and I just focus.

“We had some tough moments. We have a moment we can enjoy what we do. We get rewarded for how hard everybody in my team works. To me, that’s mainly what this is about.”

Punched in the gut

“I’ve been doing this for 43 years and I’ve been hit. When you’ve done it as long as I have you know you can’t get too excited because just around the corner, you’re going to get punched in the gut.

“The life of a trainer is not as glamorous as people think. Right now, we might be on top of the world, but for me, I just feel relieved that the horse ran to its potential and everybody here is happy. But still, when I go back to the barn, seeing that empty stall, it’s sad.”

The Quality Road colt was bought for $500,000 by agent Donato Lanni, for SF Racing, Starlight and Madaket at the Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton’s New York Sale of Select Yearlings in 2021 and runs for the combination of SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Robert E. Masterson, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC, & Catherine Donovan.

It was also a rewarding moment for the ownership group which supported Baffert in the aftermath of the suspensions.

“We’ve always had Bob’s back,” said a jubilant Sol Kumin, head of the Madaket Stables group.

“He’s been doing this a long time and he’s been treated unfairly. There’s never been any wavering from anybody in this group.”

Fillies

The feature race on the Friday was the Grade 2 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for three-year-old fillies over nine furlongs.

It produced a bit of a surprise winner in that the Baffert favourite Faiza could only finish third. Victory went to the 11/1 shot Taxed, a grey filly by Collected trained by Randy Morse.

She had been claimed for $50,000 by owner Richard Bahde last year and won $300,000 for her three and three quarter-length win over Hoosier Philly.