For the second time in four years, the Kentucky Derby winner opted not to run in the Preakness Stakes, sparking more conversation about whether the dates of Triple Crown races should be moved to adjust for the shifting realities of horse racing.
The Derby, Preakness and Belmont have always been run in a five-week span other than in 2020, a cycle that was impacted by COVID. The Derby is run on the first Saturday of May, the Preakness on the third Saturday of May and the Belmont three weeks after that in June.
The issue is now that it’s far from a guarantee that owners and trainers of Derby-winning horses will run their horse in the Preakness, as seen again with Derby winner Sovereignty.
“Part of it is the way racehorses are being trained nowadays has completely changed from the way it was decades ago,” NBC horse racing analyst Randy Moss said on Glenn Clark Radio May 8. “But part of that is because trainers believe to the bottom of their hearts that horses are not as durable as they used to be. They’re bigger, they’re stronger, they’re faster, but they’re more fragile than they used to be. Therefore, consequently, they think it’s not in the best interest of the horse physically to run them back in two weeks.”
If the sport has changed, the next logical step would be to change the Triple Crown schedule as well. The Maryland Jockey Club is open to changing the Preakness date, but so far the New York Racing Association hasn’t budged on the Belmont date. Moss explained that the NYRA’s reasoning has to do with so many top horses from the Derby skipping the Preakness in favor of the Belmont.
That reasoning doesn’t hold up any longer, according to Moss.
“The Belmont Stakes has a better and deeper field than it used to have, and if you’re making the Preakness easier to win then theoretically it increases the chances that the Derby winner wins the Preakness and then comes to the Belmont with a chance to sweep the Triple Crown, which results in 90,000 fans at Belmont Park and an incredible financial bonanza,” Moss said. “But that gets completely blown up if the Kentucky Derby winner stops running the Preakness. Maybe that will be the impetus now for New York to finally agree to collaborate with the Maryland Jockey Club and change the dates, but we’ll see.”
So when should the Preakness and Belmont take place? Mike Tirico, part of NBC Sports’ horse racing coverage, suggested on GCR May 16 that the Derby should remain in May, the Preakness should be run in late May or early June and the Belmont in July. Moss said Memorial Day weekend should be considered for the Preakness and Fourth of July weekend for the Belmont.
Tirico mentioned that the top golf events are spread out in a way to maximize interest in the sport. He believes horse racing should do the same.
“The best golfers play in the biggest events together and they’re a big deal. That’s why they put these signature events together,” Tirico said. “You need to get the best horses — the 3-year-olds, the [biggest] attention-grabbers of the sport — you need to get them in the biggest events together. As opposed to being bred to run, the sport has pivoted a little bit. Now they run to breed, so you’re not getting the horses staying around much anymore. Of the 20-plus million people that saw Sovereignty win the Kentucky Derby, how many of them will see him run another race on TV?”
However, change happens at a glacial pace in horse racing, a sport bound by tradition. Count Michael McCarthy, the trainer of Preakness winner Journalism, as one who doesn’t have a problem with the three-races-in-five-weeks setup.
“I think the Triple Crown is fine the way it is. It is meant to be difficult. It is as we call it the test of a champion,” McCarthy said on GCR May 19. “… I think for a horse to be able to compete in all three of them, it takes a special talent. For a horse to win one of them, it’s a big deal. For a horse to win three, they’re legends.”
Moss doesn’t agree with that assessment, saying that the current two-week turnaround from the Derby softens the Preakness field and takes the air out of the second leg of the Triple Crown. At this point, Moss argues, it would be better to create more time between the races to increase the chances of quality fields.
Sovereignty skipping the Preakness isn’t a one-off issue. Moss said that any Derby-winning horse would have skipped the Preakness this year other than those trained by Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lucas, who still run their Derby winners on two weeks rest out of a sense of duty.
But the numbers don’t lie. Horses don’t run well on two weeks rest. Creating an environment where they don’t have to will make the Preakness a more challenging race, according to Moss, rather than cheapening the accomplishment of winning it.
“What makes it easier to accomplish if the Preakness becomes a more difficult race to win?” Moss asked. “Right now the best 3-year-olds are not coming back to run in the Preakness. We’re seeing Derby winners skip the Preakness. For a decade or more, we’re increasingly seeing the best also-rans skipping the Preakness and waiting for the Belmont, right? The Preakness has become a much easier race to win. It’s just a fact. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a fact. So I don’t know how it cheapens the accomplishment of winning the Triple Crown if the Preakness becomes as tough of a race to win as it should be that it no longer is.”
For more from Moss, listen to the full interview here:
For more from Tirico, listen to the full interview here:
For more from McCarthy, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Maryland Jockey Club