If one remembers, the spring classics that comprise the Triple Crown of horse racing underwent a makeover in 2020 that the industry grudgingly accepted for one year.
That has gone into history as the pandemic year, prompting average Americans to wear masks lest they catch the COVID-19 virus. It became a hot topic in that election year, the sitting U.S. president saying it would be yesterday's news before Easter. Donald Trump made greater errors in that span and, in a close November vote, was given four years to reflect upon them and design, if he wished, a White House comeback tour.
Horse racing, not always adaptable to dramatic change, made the best of conditions. The Kentucky Derby was switched to early September and the Preakness to early October. The Belmont Stakes, oldest of the three races and usually run last, led the series in 2020. Tiz the Law giving the people that owned the recently deceased Funny Cide an overdue victory in the race that their beloved gelding was denied in 2003 with the Derby and Preakness in hand.
Authentic carried John Velazquez to the Derby victory, a race remembered as much for the winner's post-race antics as anything. Hall of Famer trainer Bob Baffert won the race without a fuss, no furor like that caused when another of his trainees, Medina Spirit, flunked a drug test after winning at Churchill Downs. Authentic, owned in part by the late Bradley Wayne Hughes, was named Horse of the Year after taking the Breeders' Cup Classic.
The Preakness, held third that year, proved most surprising with the Ken McPeek-trained filly Swiss Skydiver getting a four-star ride from Robby Albarado to beat Authentic. Swiss Skydiver, an Oaklawn graded winner, bounced back from a Kentucky Oaks defeat to fellow Oaklawn product Shedaresthedevil, trained by Brad Cox for owners including Hot Springs resident Staton Flurry.
The CEO of the group that owns Pimlico Race Course is considering a new date for the Preakness rather than two weeks after the Derby, famously scheduled on the first Saturday in May. By the calendar the Derby can fall as early as May 1 (Smarty Jones won in 2004 on that date) or as late as June 11. For what it's worth, Secretariat won by 31 lengths in 1973 on June 9.
Aidan Butler said Friday that "allowing additional time between the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes would give horses a greater opportunity to prepare and be ready between the Derby and the second leg of the Triple Crown." As it stands, five weeks separate the spring classics.
The then co-owner of 2014 Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome lost in the Belmont to a fresh horse, Tonalist. Steve Coburn sold interest in the newly minted Hall of Famer and was dismissed as a sore loser.
It's a business concern for Pimlico, which has not drawn the first-Saturday-in-May Derby winner the last two years (Mandaloun, elevated over the DQ'd Medina Spirit, in 2021; Rich Strike in 2022; Mage this year). If you're NBC, the host network, try selling the middle jewel of the Triple Crown to advertisers without the Derby winner. The only thing worse is a Belmont without either of the first two Series winners.
Tweaking the Preakness date may give Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher his best chance for a career sweep in the series. Pletcher skipped the Preakness with his two Derby winners (Super Saver in 2010, Always Dreaming in 2017), winning the Belmont -- mile-and-a-half Test of the Champion -- four times at his New York base. I doubt that the lack of a Preakness victory causes the 56-year-old Dallas-born trainer, an eight-time Eclipse Award winner as year-end champion, any sleepless nights.
Pimlico, by all accounts, is the weak sister of the Triple Crown tracks. Those who followed Smarty Jones to Baltimore in 2004 returned with horror stories. By contrast, Churchill Downs and Belmont Park are receiving extensive renovation. Maryland people would be sure to squawk loudest if the Preakness date is changed, but the state's racing climate is much different from the days that Seabiscuit beat 1937 Triple Crown winner War Admiral in a Pimlico match.
The Triple Crown is worth preserving. It's not like the sport is giving its jewels away. Justify, in 2018, was only the 13th horse to sweep the races, all of which date to the 19th Century and first went as a package to Sir Barton in 1919. It only seems like Baffert wins all the races, doing so with American Pharoah (2015) and Justify, also taking (with National Treasure) this year's Preakness.