BALTIMORE — Bob Baffert is back at the Preakness for his first Triple Crown race in two years, returning from a suspension and looking for a record-breaking win with National Treasure.
The white-haired Hall of Fame trainer and one of the faces of horse racing was in a familiar spot outside the stakes barn at Pimlico Race Course.
National Treasure is his first horse at the Preakness since 2021 with Medina Spirit, whose disqualification that year after winning the Kentucky Derby for failing a drug test caused Baffert to be barred from the sport’s best-known race since. “We love it here: It’s very low key, and they treat you really well,” Baffert said. “It’s laid-back, chill, you’ve got a Derby winner, so everybody’s excited about the Derby winner.
The Preakness is about coming here, having fun and they want to see the Derby winner run.” Baffert was not eligible to enter a horse in the Preakness or Belmont last year because of a 90-day suspension in Kentucky that Maryland and New York honored. “We just keep on moving forward,” Baffert said of his return from suspension. “We have other horses to worry about.