By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer

BALTIMORE — Bob Baffert is back at the Preakness for his first Triple Crown race in two years, returning from a suspension and looking for a record-breaking win with National Treasure.

The white-haired Hall of Fame trainer and one of the faces of horse racing was in a familiar spot outside the stakes barn at Pimlico Race Course on Friday morning. National Treasure is his first horse at the Preakness since 2021 with Medina Spirit, whose disqualification that year after winning the Kentucky Derby for failing a drug test caused Baffert to be barred from the sport’s best-known race since.

“We love it here: It’s very low-key, and they treat you really well,” Baffert said. “It’s laid-back, chill, you’ve got a Derby winner, so everybody’s excited about the Derby winner. The Preakness is about coming here, having fun and they want to see the Derby winner run.”

Baffert was not eligible to enter a horse in the Preakness or Belmont last year because of a 90-day suspension in Kentucky that Maryland and New York honored.

“We just keep on moving forward,” Baffert said of his return from suspension. “We have other horses to worry about. A lot of it is noise, so you keep the noise out and continue working, stay busy.”

Staying busy could mean plenty of winning this weekend. National Treasure is Derby champion Mage’s top challenger in the Preakness, and Baffert has three favorites in two other big races: Havnameltdown in the $200,000 Chick Lang and Arabian Lion in the $100,000 Sir Barton. Filly Faiza finished third in the $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday.

“You bring ’em, you hope they win,” Baffert said. “It’s good to be involved in these races. Our whole operation is to play at the top level – to play at this level. All my clients like to play at this level so if you can come here and win those races, they’re exciting to win on the big days.”

The biggest race of the weekend is the $1.65 million Preakness, which Baffert and 19th-century trainer R. Wyndham Walden each have won seven times. Baffert said he has “never been one to think about records. I just like to enjoy it and have good horses and compete.”

Baffert has brought a lot of good horses to Baltimore during his career.

He did not come to Pimlico two years ago, leaving longtime assistant Jimmy Barnes to saddle Medina Spirit in an effort not to be a distraction after word emerged that the horse had tested positive at Churchill Downs for a medication that was not allowed on race day. Medina Spirit was allowed to run in the Preakness with additional testing procedures and finished third.

Baffert-trained Authentic finished second in the Preakness run in October with no fans in 2020 after winning the Derby. He most recently won the Preakness in 2018 with Justify, who went on to become horse racing’s 13th Triple Crown champion.

This time, he said Mage – who won the Derby at odds of 15-1 – is the horse to beat. Baffert’s just happy to be here.

“We’re just here to be a part of it and hopefully get a piece of it or all of it or whatever,” he said. “We love Pimlico. It’s basically the only time I eat crabcakes all year.”

First Mission scratched

Brad Cox-trained First Mission was scratched from the Preakness on the advice of veterinarians Friday morning, taking one of the top contenders out of the Triple Crown race 36 hours before post time.

Owner Godolphin and the Maryland Jockey Club announced the scratch, saying vets identified an issue with First Mission’s left hind ankle. The withdrawal comes in the aftermath of five scratches for the Kentucky Derby and one horse who was scheduled to run being among the seven who died of various causes at Churchill Downs over a 10-day span.

Godolphin USA bloodstock director Michael Banahan said an examination of First Mission at Pimlico Race Course “was sort of inconclusive.”

“They thought that he was maybe not quite 100% on his left hind and tried to figure that out, do some diagnostics, something on the track there, which was difficult to do,” Banahan told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “The veterinary scrutiny is very heightened on the big days. Obviously, they saw something that they were concerned about. … Brad is conservative and cautious, as well. When they thought that there was maybe a little issue, we said we’d just have to collaborate with them and go with their advice.”

First Mission is set to go to Kentucky to be evaluated further next week by Dr. Larry Bramlage at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington.

The removal of First Mission leaves seven horses in the field for the $1.65 million race. He was the early second choice at odds of 5-2 behind only 8-5 favorite Mage, who won the Kentucky Derby.

“You don’t like to see that,” Baffert said. “We still have another day to go. Trainers, we don’t relax until we get the saddle on. Until I get the saddle on the horse, then you can just relax completely. It’s one of those things where you don’t want to wish any bad luck on anyone because we’ve all been there.”

It’s an all-too-familiar feeling this spring after the defections from the Derby left 18 to run instead of the usually full field of 20.

That included favorite Forte hours before, when Kentucky racing officials expressed concern about a bruised right front foot. Forte landed on the state’s vet list, grounding him from racing for at least 14 days, and trainer Todd Pletcher was suspended 10 days for Forte failing a postrace drug test in New York in September.

Racing officials who own and operate tracks in Maryland have increased testing and veterinary review procedures for horses running in the Preakness and other top stakes races this weekend at Pimlico Race Course as preventative measures to limit injuries. That includes multiple independent doctors examining horses, with each one needing to be cleared before racing.