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Nick Wass/AP
A horse named Nationwide Treasure gained the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, the second leg of the Triple Crown. The win handed coach Bob Baffert a record-setting victory, hours after he needed to put down an injured horse, and coming upon his return to the race after being banned final yr.
Nationwide Treasure entered Saturday’s race on the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore because the second betting alternative behind Mage, who pulled off a longshot victory on the Kentucky Derby earlier this month. However in the long run, Blazing Sevens got here in second by a slim margin and Mage took third.
It is jockey John Velazquez’s first Preakness win, and a file eighth Preakness win for Baffert.
“This horse deserved it. All of us thought it was a very good horse,” Baffert informed NBC Sports activities after the win.
A string of current horse deaths have overshadowed this yr’s Triple Crown races.
Within the eight days resulting in the Kentucky Derby earlier this month, seven horses died at Churchill Downs.
Hours earlier than Saturday’s most important occasion in Baltimore, Havnameltdown, a horse educated by Bob Baffert, was euthanized after the 3-year-old colt injured its ankle throughout an earlier race.
“Havnameltdown went unhealthy on the prime of the stretch, you noticed it across the flip and he sustained a very extreme damage of his left entrance ankle,” Dr. Scott Hay, the on-call veterinarian for the American Affiliation of Equine Practitioners, told TVG. “It was to such an extent that it was principally unattainable to move him and so they needed to euthanize him humanely on the grounds instantly.”
His rider Luis Sáez was flung off the horse. The jockey complained of leg ache after the autumn and was taken to a close-by hospital, in keeping with the NBC Sports activities broadcast.
“We’re simply devastated,” Baffert tweeted. “This can be a shock to everybody at our barn who love and take care of these horses each day. Hanvameltdown was clearly hit fairly onerous popping out of the gate. We do not know if that contributed to the damage, however we might be totally clear with these reviewing this horrible accident. Proper now, our ideas are with Luis Saez and we’re hopeful he might be okay.”
It is Baffert’s first time in a Triple Crown race since 2021 because of the coach’s suspensions stemming from disqualified Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit’s failed drug check.
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