Back on Triple Crown trail, Bob Baffert eyes Preakness Stakes and return to Kentucky Derby

BALTIMORE — Bob Baffert has a solid contender in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes with National Treasure, and there are plenty more big purses to chase on the 2023 calendar.

But the 2-year-olds are starting to roll into Baffert’s barn, and it’s never too early to start thinking about the next Kentucky Derby — especially when you’ve missed the past two.

Baffert already has an eye on 2-year-old Mirahmadi, named after Santa Anita Park track announcer Frank Mirahmadi. The Into Mischief colt sold for $1.05 million at Keeneland’s 2022 September Yearling Sale.

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“He’s a nice horse,” Baffert said Friday morning at the Pimlico Race Course stakes barn. “I talked the other day and said, ‘I don’t want to hear about him. I don’t want to jinx him.’ I hope he turns out well. So far so good.”

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After a two-year absence, Baffert is back on a Triple Crown trail he’s dominated — six Kentucky Derby wins, seven Preakness victories and three Belmont Stakes triumphs.

National Treasure is the 3-1 second choice in the morning line for Saturday’s $1.65 million, Grade 1 Preakness. The morning line was revised Friday after the early morning scratch of First Mission.

It will be Baffert’s first appearance in a Triple Crown race since Medina Spirit finished third in the 2021 Preakness.

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Baffert appeared to have his seventh Kentucky Derby victory in 2021 when Medina Spirit crossed the finish line first. But a positive test for betamethasone led to the disqualification of Medina Spirit, several legal battles and suspensions of Baffert by Churchill Downs and the New York Racing Association.

The Hall of Fame trainer held court for media group after media group Friday morning and was asked whether he missed the hype.

“If you come with a good horse, you miss it,” he said. “But if you don’t have one you don’t think can win it, you don’t miss it. … It’s good to be involved with these races. Our whole operation is to play at the top level. All my clients like to play at this level. It’s exciting to win on the big days.”

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The Churchill Downs suspension — which kept Baffert out of the 2022 and 2023 Kentucky Derbys — will run out at the end of the current Spring Meet on July 3. He’ll be eligible to return to Churchill Downs for the September Meet and the 2024 Kentucky Derby.

“It’s not about getting back to Louisville,” Baffert said. “It’s having a horse good enough to win the Kentucky Derby. I think that’s more important. That’s what we want.”

Baffert’s focus at Pimlico this weekend was on his Black-Eyed Susan favorite Faiza and Preakness contender National Treasure.

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A son of Quality Road, National Treasure is 1-1-2 in five career starts and enters off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 8.

National Treasure appears to be the only early speed in the race, and Baffert has added blinkers in an attempt to steady a horse he called “high strung.”

“He’s a horse that runs in spurts, and we thought maybe the blinkers would focus him a little bit more,” Baffert said. “He’s still immature. He still hasn’t filled into that tall frame. We need to find about three lengths … so we’re working on that.”

Baffert said he watched the Kentucky Derby with friends in Tucson, Arizona, even placing a few bets at Rillito Park.

He said he was impressed with Kentucky Derby winner Mage and called him “definitely the horse to beat” as the 8-5 favorite in the Preakness.

All seven of Baffert’s Preakness victories have come with horses that previously had competed in the Kentucky Derby, including six that won the Run for the Roses.

“I’ve never won it missing the Derby,” Baffert said, “so it’s a different feeling.”

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @KentuckyDerbyCJ.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Bob Baffert at Preakness Stakes 2023: Trainer on Kentucky Derby return