It’s been nearly two years since trainer Bob Baffert had a starter in a Triple Crown race.
That absence could end next month in the middle jewel of the series.
SF Racing’s Tom Ryan said Santa Anita Derby (G1) fourth-place finisher National Treasure has been returned to Baffert’s barn and is a candidate for the May 20 Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course. Ryan is the manager for National Treasure’s ownership group,
“It’s our intention to try and move in that direction as long as the horse is taking us there,” Ryan said about the possibility of starting the 3-year-old son of Quality Road in the Preakness. “He was transferred back to Bob and worked last weekend (four furlongs in a handy :48 at Santa Anita April 22) and did everything we asked of him. It was one in a series of works that will hopefully get him (to the Preakness).”
National Treasure, who has a 1-1-2 record in five career starts, started his career with Baffert and finished third for him in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). But with Baffert barred from entering horses in the Kentucky Derby (G1) for a second-straight year, National Treasure was shifted to trainer Tim Yakteen’s barn for the Santa Anita Derby in a bid to earn qualifying points for a spot in the Run for the Roses.
Sent off as the 5-2 second choice, National Treasure was bumped at the start of the Santa Anita Derby and then lacked running room at the quarter pole before finishing fourth, nearly three lengths behind the victorious Practical Move .
Ryan said the bay colt is continuing to develop and improve.
“Bob has told us repeatedly that time is going to be this horse’s best friend,” Ryan said. “I thought he ran a good race in the Santa Anita Derby and he received a good speed figure for it on the Ragozin Sheets. I don’t think he got the clear path he needed at a key moment in the race but he came out of it well. He’s showed us a very high level of ability, so hopefully we can get the stars to align in Maryland.”
Baffert’s most recent Triple Crown starter was Medina Spirit, who finished third in the 2021 Preakness.
It was Medina Spirit’s positive drug test after his victory in the Kentucky Derby that ultimately led to the colt being stripped of his win in that race and Baffert receiving suspensions that blocked him from running horses in the 2022 and 2023 Kentucky Derby, the 2021 and 2022 Belmont Stakes (G1), and 2022 Preakness. (The Medina Spirit disqualification and Baffert’s sanctions are still under regulatory appeal in Kentucky.)
Baffert, who has won a record 16 Triple Crown races, is now eligible to race at all tracks, except those owned by Churchill Downs Inc., which handed him a two-year suspension that ends this summer.
National Treasure is owned by SF Racing. Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan. Bred by Bridie Harrison, the $345,000 earner was bought for $500,000 from Harrison’s consignment at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale.
National Treasure is not included among the 27 individual horses listed in the Maryland Jockey Club’s first Preakness Future Wager, which will be offered April 28-May 6. He would be part of the “All Other 3-Year-olds” entry.
