BALTIMORE — One year ago, Medina Spirit entered the Preakness with a dark cloud over him — the Kentucky Derby champion whose defining victory was in peril because of a medication violation and whose famous trainer, Bob Baffert, was facing suspensions in multiple jurisdictions.
On top of that, he would run in front of a crowd capped at 10,000, with no infield party at the center of Pimlico Race Course, as Maryland began its tentative path back from the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic. Nothing felt normal about an event that is typically one of Baltimore’s defining spring traditions.
The same cannot be said in 2022. There are no drug controversies around the nine horses that will run in Saturday’s Preakness. The crowd will be back, as will the big-ticket musical acts playing on the infield stage.
