2023 Preakness Stakes: Results, payouts, order of finish for National Treasure’s victory

National Treasure won a banging stretch run over Blazing Sevens to deliver a record eighth Preakness Stakes victory for trainer Bob Baffert on Saturday and deny Kentucky Derby winner Mage a chance for the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes.

With John Velazquez aboard, National Treasure was almost a wire-to-wire winner at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The colt took the lead in a slowly paced race and stayed in front until Blazing Sevens pulled even – and maybe a little ahead – at the top of the stretch. But National Treasure had enough to pull in front approaching the wire after a side-by-side battle and win by a head in Baltimore.

Mage settled into third entering the stretch and could make no headway against the front two runners, finishing 2.25 lengths back.

National Treasure paid $7.80 to win, $4.00 to place and $2.60 to show.

Blazing Sevens paid $5.00 to place and $2.80 to show.

Mage paid $2.40 to show.

The $2 exacta paid $31.80.

The $1 trifecta paid $24.20.

The $1 superfecta, with fourth-place finisher Red Route One joining the top three, paid $72.40.

Mage went off as the betting favorite at 8-5. National Treasure was 5-2 at post time.

National Treasure’s winning time for the 9.5-furlong event was 1 minute, 55.12 seconds.

Baffert had not had a horse in a Triple Crown race since the 2021 Preakness Stakes after drawing a two-year ban at Churchill Downs and a one-year ban in Maryland and New York when Medina Spirit was stripped of victory in the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

National Treasure’s victory moved Baffert past Robert Wyndham Walden into sole possession of the trainer record for Preakness wins.

Baffert also won the Preakness in 1997 with Silver Charm, 1998 with Real Quiet, 2001 with Point Given, 2002 with War Emblem, 2010 with Lookin at Lucky, 2015 with American Pharoah and 2018 with Justify.

Walden won the Preakness in 1875 with Tom Ochiltree, 1878 with Duke of Magenta, 1879 with Harold, 1880 with Grenada, 1881 with Saunterer, 1882 with Vanguard and 1888 with Refund.

National Treasure led virtually wire-to-wire in winning his first race, too. But while his performance had improved since that race at Del Mar on Sept. 3, the colt hadn’t won again until Saturday.

All four races in between had been graded stakes. National Treasure ran third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 4 and came to Pimlico off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 8.

National Treasure won $990,000 of the race’s $1.65 million purse for his owners.

The Triple Crown series for 2023 will wrap up on June 10 with the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. This is the fifth year in a row that the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes have had different winners.

The order of finish for the 148th Preakness Stakes was:

1. National Treasure

2. Blazing Sevens