Baffert-trained horse euthanized at Pimlico; jockey to hospital - ESPN

BALTIMORE — A horse trained by Bob Baffert was euthanized on the track after going down with an injury and unseating his jockey during a race on the Preakness undercard Saturday.

Hours before the second leg of the Triple Crown, favorite Havnameltdown buckled forward and threw jockey Luis Saez off his back during the sixth race and continued running around the final turn in some distress. The 3-year-old colt was looked at by veterinary staff before being euthanized.

Saez was conscious and taken to a hospital for evaluation, complaining of leg pain, the track announced. He was attended to by medical personnel on the track for several minutes before being put on a stretcher and into an ambulance.

The fatality comes in the aftermath of the Kentucky Derby being overshadowed by the deaths of seven horses at Churchill Downs over a span of 10 days.

Havnameltdown, the favorite at 4-5 and breaking from the inside No. 1 post, was bumped out of the gate by No. 2 Ryvit and broke a step slow.

Fans in the crowd at Pimlico Race Course gasped when the horse stumbled before the final turn and tossed Saez. The horse was brought under control on Pimlico's homestretch by track staff then led behind some black barriers.

In an incongruous scene, at the same time Saez and Havnameltdown were being looked at, 2Pac's «California Love» blared from infield speakers set up right near where the incident happened.

Baffert has horses running on Preakness weekend for the first time in two years after returning from a suspension stemming from 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit's failed drug test. He was not able to enter horses in the Derby either of the past two years as part of a decision by Churchill Downs. He could not have any in the 2022