When coach Cherie DeVaux opted to not run Golden Tempo in the Preakness in May, it marked the third time in 5 years that the Kentucky Derby winner skipped the second leg of the Triple Crown.
DeVaux’s resolution, borne out of concern over her horse’s restoration, reignited what’s turn out to be a acquainted chorus round horse racing: Does the race calendar must be modified?
On Monday, two of the sport’s largest stakeholders got here collectively to offer a little calendar readability. The New York Racing Association (NYRA) and Churchill Downs Incorporated introduced a partnership to kind what they’ve referred to as the Thoroughbred Championship Series (TCS), a assortment of six races that begins with the Kentucky Derby in May and ends with a championship race in September.
Via a factors system, entrants is not going to solely compete for prize cash in particular person races but in addition vie for a $5 million prize pool divided up based mostly on the sequence’ closing standings.
“The inaugural Thoroughbred Championship Series was developed by CDI and NYRA around a shared vision for a season-long championship and a group of races that provided the right foundation to launch in 2027. We felt it was important to move forward and establish that foundation with the six races announced today,” mentioned Breck Thomas-Ross, senior director of communications for Churchill Downs Incorporated, in a assertion to CNN Sports.
“This is the first season of what we expect will be a long-term championship, not the last. As the series evolves, we are open to conversations with additional races and organizations that share our vision and would strengthen both the championship and the sport.”
There is one small caveat: The six-race sequence doesn’t embrace the Preakness. It conveniently skips from the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday of May to the Belmont Stakes in early June, and proper over the Baltimore-based second leg of the Triple Crown.
Furthermore, with a jam-packed schedule that runs races by way of September (the precise dates have but to be decided), it leaves little wiggle room even when the Maryland Jockey Club, which oversees the Preakness, needed to maneuver off its conventional date two weeks after the Derby.
That leaves one main query: Could the new sequence successfully kill the Triple Crown, the one fixed the sport has had going for it?
Bill Knauf, the president and basic supervisor of the Maryland Jockey Club, advised CNN Sports his group would have an announcement on Wednesday.
On a temporary teleconference, NYRA and Churchill Downs organizers made no point out of the Preakness (although they did name the Derby, Belmont, Matt Winn Stakes, Jim Dandy Stakes, Travers Stakes and as-yet-unnamed Championship Race the sport’s “defining races.”)
Instead, they defined that the sequence – shorthanded as the TCS – is designed to comply with a sample acquainted to sports activities followers: a playoff-like sequence that features standings and ends with a champion. They’ve even coined a catchphrase already: The Chase for the Vase.
“The Triple Crown shows us every year how powerfully these events capture people’s attention,” mentioned David O’Rourke, the president and CEO of NYRA. “Our aim is to continue that energy over the full season and give fans a reason to stay with the sport’s best three-year-olds from May into the fall.”
To be honest, the trade has lengthy struggled to maintain its peak past the five-week window of the Triple Crown, and the evolution of the sport’s equine athletes has made Triple Crown bids extra elusive. Horses merely don’t run like they used to and are not often requested to compete a mere two weeks after a huge race, as the Preakness calls for. Golden Tempo, for instance, ran simply 4 occasions earlier than getting into the Kentucky Derby and simply as soon as – as a Belmont winner – since.
In distinction, the Derby was Secretariat’s tenth race in 1973. He raced 21 days after profitable the Belmont.
Traditionalists argue that the Triple Crown is meant to be exhausting, and it is not not possible. American Pharoah received it in 2015 and Justify simply three years later. However, no horse has received each the Derby and Preakness since Justify. In 2025, Journalism got here closest, ending second to Sovereignty by 1½ lengths at the Derby earlier than profitable in Baltimore.
Then once more, Bill Mott opted out of the Preakness, and Sovereignty got here again to win the Belmont, similar to Golden Tempo this yr.
Asked if he was involved about the new sequence diminishing the Preakness, proprietor Mike Repole advised CNN Sports through textual content, “No. How many horses have run in the Derby the last three years and run back in the Preakness?”
That mentioned, there is additionally no assure that any horse will run in the majority of the six races to crown a legit champion (and most assuredly, none will compete in all six.) This isn’t basketball, the place a Game 7 is required. These are horses. The similar points that make the Preakness tough for as we speak’s animals will apply to a six-race sequence.
A champion received’t essentially be the greatest horse, however maybe the one which both gamed the system to win the most factors or ended up as the final horse left standing.
More than a few folks – even these certain to custom – have conceded that a calendar reconfiguration wouldn’t be a dangerous thought, reminiscent of pushing the Preakness again to June and the Belmont to July. But with completely different entities in control of every race, to not point out two completely different networks (NBC and Fox), getting anybody to budge has been tough.
In April, Churchill Downs Incorporated introduced it had bought the mental property of the Stronach Group, which owned and operated Pimlico Racetrack. At the time, it appeared the Derby organizers would then work with NBC, its TV rights companion, to determine a option to package deal the first two legs of the Triple Crown collectively and successfully freeze out NYRA and the Belmont.
Instead, Maryland pushed again once more, exercising its proper of first refusal to buy the rights again, leaving the Preakness on the exterior wanting in.
All that mentioned, the Triple Crown’s death is hardly imminent with this new sequence. The Preakness’ shorter distance of 1 3/16 miles is rather more interesting than the grueling mile and a half of the Belmont, and race organizers definitely might bump up the purse from $2 million. There are additionally loads of trainers – two-time Triple Crown winner Bob Baffert amongst them – who not often balk at working Derby winners again two weeks later in the Preakness.
And the attract of profitable the Triple Crown stays very actual. It is a part of the sports activities nomenclature, a recognizable commonplace of excellence that comes with vital monetary acquire. After breaking a 37-year Triple Crown drought, American Pharoah went on to win the Haskell and Breeders’ Cup Classic, in addition to take second at the Travers. His preliminary stud payment was $200,000.
While applauding the new sequence, Baffert – who skilled Pharoah and Justify – said via statement on his X account, “The biggest achievement in racing will all the time be profitable the Triple Crown – the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes.
“The Triple Crown has sustained our sport for more than 150 years, and it will continue to do so for another 150 or more, if we appreciate and care for it. The Preakness is integral to racing’s history, present and future, and I hope nothing detracts from its significance. If I have the right horse, I’ll continue to run in Baltimore every May, as well as in the Thoroughbred Series.”
