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Bob Baffert-trained horse euthanized on track ahead of Preakness

May 20, 2023; Baltimore, Maryland, USA;   Luis Saez aboard Havnameltdown (1) enters the third turn during the running of the 48th Running the Chick Lang Stakes (Grade III)  at Pimlico Race Course. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

A horse trained by Bob Baffert was euthanized on the track at Pimlico Race Course after sustaining a left front leg injury during a race on the Preakness undercard Saturday in Baltimore.

Favorite Havnameltdown stumbled around the far turn and unseated jockey Luis Saez during the Chick Lang Stakes, hours before the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Saez complained of leg pain while being placed on a stretcher and taken to Sinai Hospital in Baltimore.

Havnameltdown appeared to be in distress before being corralled midway in the stretch. The equine ambulance came out for the 3-year-old colt, and a screen was set up around the scene.

“Unfortunately, Havnameltdown went bad at the top of the stretch, you saw it around the turn and he sustained a really severe injury of his left front ankle,” Dr. Scott Hay, the on-call veterinarian for the American Association of Equine Practitioners, told TVG. “It was to such an extent that it was basically impossible to transport him and they had to euthanize him humanely on the grounds immediately.”

–Field Level Media

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