FILE – Trainer Bob Baffert stands for a photo ahead of the Breeders’ Cup horse races at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., Oct. 27, 2023. Preakness favorite Muth has been ruled out of the second leg of the Triple Crown after spiking a fever. The Maryland Jockey Club announced Muth’s status change Wednesday, May 15, 2024, morning roughly 12 hours after the horse arrived at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Legendary trainer Bob Baffert has been persona non grata at the Kentucky Derby for the last couple of years because of a suspension following his 2021 Derby winner Medina Spirit failing a post-race drug test. That three-year ban is up after this season, so he’s likely to be back at Churchill Downs next year, but the suspension stemming from that incident at both the Preakness and the Belmont are up, and he has one horse, Imagination, in Preakness 149. He did train morning line favorite Muth, who was scratched earllier in the week.
