National Treasure fought off all challengers to win the 148th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on Saturday, with Kentucky Derby winner Mage only third.
A surprise winner of the Run for the Roses, Mage had all eyes on him this time and was sent off the 7/5 favourite to add the second leg of the Triple Crown to his victory at Churchill Downs.
Settled just behind the leaders in the early stages, he briefly looked threatening on the home turn when moving up on the outside to race in a clear third, but the finishing kick he'd shown in the Kentucky Derby was lacking on this occasion and he could never quite manage to get on terms.
That left the front-running National Treasure (29/10) to fight it out with Blazing Stevens (49/10) and, following a sustained battle between the pair in the straight, it was Bob Baffert's colt who held on gamely to get the verdict by a head, with another two and a quarter lengths back to Mage in third.
National Treasure was a poignant winner for Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, who was landing the Preakness for the first time at the thirteenth attempt.
"What a moment," Velazquez said afterwards. "All I can say, when you ride your best and you try to ride your best and the horse responds to everything you want to do, that's all it takes, the horse giving you everything they can, and that's what you hope for, and he did.
"Everything I asked him to do, got a good break, pumped it outside a little bit, just like the other ones, think what I'm going to do, and got to the turn and went to the inside, saved some ground and got to the backstretch. Saved some ground on the second turn, and when Irad started moving in the 3/8 pole, I stayed in there. But came to the quarter pole and made sure I put a little pressure on him.
"And he fought the whole way. From the 3/16 pole home, he put in a really good fight. He did not want to let that horse pass. And that's what champions do. He got it done for me."
For Baffert it was a record eighth win in the Preakness and capped an emotional day after the fatal injury sustained by his Havnameltdown in the Chick Lang Stakes earlier on the card.
Baffert said: "This day was like a rollercoaster. Started out great. Then things went bad. When we lose a horse, it's tough on everybody. We grieve. But then for this horse to come back, to pull us out of that dark area that we were in. That's why I love those horses. They try so hard. It looked like he wouldn't let that horse pass him. He fought. He dug in. And Johnny [Velazquez] said he didn't want to pull up.
"This game, there's a lot of twists and turns, and you've just got to get through it. This is how we're rewarded. The fans got a great race. Unfortunately, they would have liked to see the Derby winner win, because it helps going for the Triple Crown. I've been there. I've been there for the disappointments.
"It was a great finish for me. Very emotional. I really couldn't get into the race. When he hit the wire, that's when I started enjoying the race. The rest of my day, you just couldn't enjoy the day. Once he hit the wire, it just brought us back. You have to earn these races. For Johnny to get his first, I was thinking more about Johnny.
"It just means [eighth Preakness], I feel like Nick Saban. I like those five-star recruits. That's my whole secret.
"I loved them [the early fractions]. If we could make the easy lead and just cruise around there. We knew he would love the distance. Once I saw the half-mile fraction, there was no excuses. That horse came to him, I thought he was going to go by us. But our horse dug in. It was a great race."
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