Bob Baffert is officially back. On the track back. Triple Crown-race back. Like it or not, back. For better or worse, horse racing’s most recognizable and controversial trainer is officially back in the spotlight of the winner’s circle.
Whether that’s a good thing for horse racing is clearly up for debate.
Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Baffert won his record eighth Preakness Stakes when National Treasure wired the seven-horse field under jockey John Velazquez in the 148th running of the second leg of the Triple Crown.
It was Baffert’s first Triple Crown race since 2021 after he was handed a two-year suspension by Churchill Downs following the disqualification of Medina Spirit’s Kentucky Derby victory after the colt flunked a postrace drug test.
Saturday was a roller-coaster day for Baffert in Baltimore. His 3-year-old colt Arabian Lion won the fourth race of the day, the Sir Barton Stakes. Two races later, however, Baffert’s Havnameltdown was euthanized on the track after suffering a catastrophic leg injury in the Chick Lang Stakes.
Finally, in the $1.5 million, Grade 1 Preakness, National Treasure took advantage of the slow pace to beat Blazing Sevens in a thrilling stretch duel that also ended the Triple Crown hopes of Kentucky Derby winner Mage, who finished third.
“This business is twists and turns, the ups and downs,” an emotional Baffert told NBC’s Kenny Rice after the race. “We start out great, we had a horrible race, we’ve really been totally wiped out after that horse got hurt. . . . It’s been a very emotional day.”
The Baffert victory is yet another plot twist for a sport under scrutiny for all the wrong reasons. Seven horses died, including two on Kentucky Derby Day, at Churchill Downs in the lead-up to the “Run for the Roses.” An eighth equine fatality at the Louisville track was suffered in the week after the Derby. A ninth was suffered Saturday.
So to have yet another horse death — this one on Preakness Day — and to have that horse be trained by Baffert, fresh off suspension, only brings more of the wrong kind of headlines.
True, Baffert owns a clean safety record in California since he returned to training at Santa Anita last year after the track reciprocated his 90-day suspension from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. And Baffert returned with a bang. Going into Saturday, his horses had won 30 of 115 starts with earnings of a nation-leading $38,048 per start for trainers with 50-or-more starts.
As well, Baffert is among, if not the most, media-friendly figures in the sport. At least before the Medina Spirit controversy, he rarely turned down an interview, was quick with a quip, and promoted the sport whenever he could. Love him or hate him, Baffert is one of the few trainers non-racing fans recognize.
To a sizable slice of the public, however, Baffert is the personification of racing’s problems. He is a repeat offender when it comes to medical violations. He has experienced multiple mysterious equine deaths in his own barn. And he continually used the legal system to challenge the Derby disqualification and Churchill Downs suspension to the point where it kept the story in the news far too long.
Now that’s Bob is back, now that he’s won yet another Triple Crown race, the real question is what will we see from Baffert moving forward. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority’s anti-doping and medication control rules take effect Monday. Under HISA’s stricter and more uniform guidelines, can Baffert prove he’s not the (at best) careless or (at worse) cheating trainer his critics believe him to be?
Either way, Saturday proved that Bob isn’t going away. He’s sure to be at what is shaping up to be an interesting Belmont Stakes in three weeks. Todd Pletcher will be there too with Forte and Tapit Trice. Brad Cox could be there with Angel of Empire. And despite Saturday’s disappointment, Mage is likely to make the trip to New York, as well.
Bottom line: Bob Baffert is back. And he’s not going away.
