There will not be a Triple Crown winner this year after National Treasure came through with the victory at the 2023 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday.
Trained by Bob Baffert, National Treasure lived up to the hype with a fantastic run at the Preakness Stakes, with the three-year-old colt denying Kentucky Derby winner Mage of a chance to keep its Triple Crown dreams alive. Mage finished third, while Blazing Sevens was second.
Baffert was emotional when interviewed following National Treasure's victory at the Preakness Stakes, as he was clearly still not over the death of one of his horses, Havnameltdown, which got injured in an undercard race before getting euthanized.
“This business is twists and turns and ups and downs,” Baffert said (h/t John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times). “We had a horrible race [when Havnameltdown broke down]. I was totally wiped out after that horse got hurt. … Losing that horse really hurt. It’s been a very emotional day.”
National Treasure's success at the 2023 Preakness Stakes was its first-ever in a graded stakes race. After breaking its maiden in September of last year, National Treasure finished runner-up at the 2022 American Pharoah (Grade 1) in October. Then it finished third at the 2022 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (Grade 1) in November. National Treasure showed again at the 2023 Sham (Grade 3) in January before going fourth at the 2023 Santa Anita Derby (Grade 3) last April.
With National Treasure taking the win at Preakness Stakes, Bob Baffert now has a total of eight wins in the said event.
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