National Treasure fought off Blazing Sevens in the final strides to win the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, taking trainer Bob Baffert from grief to glory hours after one of his horses was euthanized.

Baffert claimed his eighth Preakness win, breaking a tie with 19th-century trainer Robert Wyndham Walden for most by a trainer, but that seemed far from his mind as he contemplated the day’s earlier grim events in the 148th running of the middle jewel in US flat racing’s Triple Crown.

Baffert-trained Havnameltdown suffered a catastrophic front left leg injury during the sixth race of the day and had to be euthanized on the track at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

Jockey Luis Saez was thrown when the horse stumbled forward and taken to hospital with leg pain, but was released after X-rays were negative.

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