National Treasure gave Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez his first victory in the Triple Crown's middle jewel, winning a stirring stretch duel with Blazing Sevens and Irad Ortiz Jr. to capture the 148th Preakness Stakes by a neck.
With blinkers added to his equipment, National Treasure went straight to the front, set soft fractions and had just enough at the end to win his first stakes in six starts for an ownership group of SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan.
The win was bittersweet for trainer Bob Baffert, who was winning his record eighth Preakness but saw one of his other horses, the 3-year-old colt Havnameltdown, suffer a fatal injury earlier in the day in the G3 Chick Lang Stakes.
Final time for the 1 3/16 miles on a fast track was 1:55.12. Second choice in the wagering, National Treasure paid $7.80 to win.
Mage, the Kentucky Derby and 7-5 favorite, finished third under Javier Castellano, unable to close after fractions of :23.95, :48.92, 1:13.49, and 1:37.07.
The lead-up to the Preakness, like the Kentucky Derby two weeks earlier, was eventful.
Connections of the 17 horses who finished behind Mage opted not to pursue the Triple Crown's second leg, leaving just the Derby winner in the starting field. This was the first time since the current scheduling of the Derby was established in 1969 that only one horse ran in both.
One of the non-Derby runners entered in the Preakness, Godolphin's First Mission, winner of the G3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 15, was scratched from the race on Friday with a hind leg problem. He was second choice on the morning line.
Forte, the 2022 champion 2-year-old who was the morning line favorite for the Derby but was scratched on the morning of the race because of a foot bruise, was ruled ineligible to run. A veterinary scratch automatically landed the colt on the vet's list for 14 days, after which he was required to breeze and be drug tested before getting cleared to run.
And then there was the pall of horse fatalities. Two horses died in races at Churchill Downs on Derby day, and several others succumbed in the days leading up to the race, including Wild On Ice, who suffered a fatal injury training up to the Derby. Racing was in the national media spotlight, for all the wrong reasons.
Pimlico had an even higher profile fatality on Preakness day when the Bob Baffert-trained Havnameltdown suffered a catastrophic injury to his left front ankle on the turn for home of the G3 Chick Lang Stakes. Jockey Luis Saez was put on a backboard and taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where Xrays were negative. Saez reportedly said he feels good enough to ride on Sunday.
Havnameltdown was not so fortunate. The 3-year-old colt by Uncaptured was euthanized on the track behind a set of screens held by track attendants to keep the public from seeing the sad ending, then carted off in the horse ambulance.
The post National Treasure Outduels Blazing Sevens In 148th Preakness; Derby Winner Mage Third appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
