National Treasure Wins in Baffert’s Comeback

Joe DrapeBob Baffert, the most accomplished and controversial horse trainer in America, returned to the Triple Crown trail on Saturday and watched his colt National Treasure win the 148th running of the Preakness Stakes. The victory came after Baffert’s two-year ban from the sport’s premier stage because of a doping violation, and hours after another one of his horses died competing in an undercard race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

It was the kind of afternoon that makes many Americans wonder how long America’s oldest sport can continue to have its social license renewed.

Earlier in the afternoon, another of Baffert’s 3-year-old colts, Havnameltdown, buckled around the far turn in the…