COMPROMISE IS WINNING MOVE
Despite revisions, Triple Crown still where history happens
The Triple Crown is askew. Jostled by circumstance, switched in midstream, thoroughbred racing’s signature series will be held this year in an unprecedented order, over three times its normal span, with at least one leg to be staged without spectators.
Hallelujah!
Compromise beats capitulation by Secretariat’s Belmont margin, and then some. If certain long-standing traditions are temporarily scrapped in the interests of expedience, that’s plainly preferable to skipping the event entirely.
A horse only gets one shot at the 3year-old classics. Bettors need not be on the premises to place their wagers. Whatever concessions the Kentucky
Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes must make to the coronavirus, there’s a lot to be said for continuity in the face of a crisis.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” said Mike Ziegler, Churchill Downs’ executive director of racing. “Racing’s resilient. It’s lived through crises before.”
This time, Ziegler said, “the world has thrown us a curveball,” before quickly amending that statement.
“This,” he said, “is a knuckleball.” “This is a one-year thing, hopefully, and it just goes back to normal next year,” Louisville trainer Dale Romans said Wednesday. “It doesn’t feel like the Triple Crown that we all know and love. But it’s not like there haven’t been 2018 ................................................... Justify 2015 ............................. American Pharoah 1978 ............................................... Affirmed 1977 ........................................ Seattle Slew 1973 ........................................... Secretariat 1948 ................................................. Citation 1946 .................................................. Assault 1943 .......................................... Count Fleet 1941 ............................................. Whirlaway 1937 ......................................... War Admiral 1935 .................................................. Omaha 1930 ........................................... Gallant Fox 1919 ............................................. Sir Barton
changes in the past.”
Moving the Belmont to June 20 and reducing its distance from 1 1⁄2 miles to 1 1⁄8 miles means the race that has long been the last and longest leg of the Triple Crown will this year be the first and the shortest. The 1 1⁄4-mile Derby has been rescheduled for Sept. 5, with the 1 3/16mile Preakness to follow on Oct. 3.
So instead of three major races squeezed into a five-week window, trainers will have 11 weeks between the Belmont and the Derby and another four weeks prior to the Preakness. Triple Crown fields that typically dwindle post-Derby figure to be fuller given the more generous spacing, and filled by fresher horses.
Instead of building toward (or avoiding) Belmont’s grueling “Test of Champions,” horsemen will be able to approach the race as a $1 million Derby prep with the added inducement of 150 qualifying points to the winner. At the less daunting distance of 1 1/8 miles, it will be conducted at the same length as the most prominent Derby tuneups: the Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and Santa Anita Derbys, the Wood Memorial and the Blue Grass Stakes.
“Because of the way the race is now positioned, it’s the right distance,” New York Racing Association President Dave O’Rourke told the Daily Racing Form. “We respect the tradition of it, but it’s not the third leg in a five-week series anymore for 3-year-olds early in the year. It’s a 3-year-old race in June before any of the others, so the distance to us makes sense. It’ll be a big field. This will be the year everything goes out the window. If there is ever a time to do something different it’s this year.”
Whether the stands are empty or jammed, horsemen recognize that these three races is where history happens.
Because this year’s races will be contested by 3-year-olds more physically mature than they were in early spring, it’s at least possible some historical records will result.
Though Secretariat’s Triple Crown times have not been bettered since he finished the series in 1973, Spectacular Bid ran the fastest 1 1⁄4 miles on record as a 4-year-old at Santa Anita in 1980.
According to a study in the Journal of Equine Science, thoroughbreds typically peak at 4.5 years.
According to Churchill Downs President Kevin Flanery, Secretariat fans should not fret.
“One of my favorite memories at the track is the first time we had an Arabian race here,” Flanery said on the first Saturday in May. “John Asher, Darren Rogers and I were standing at the rail. It was a mile and a quarter race and John wasn’t real keen on the Arabians racing on this track. He turned to me and said, ‘Kevin, what are you going to do if they break Secretariat’s record?’
“If you all remember that race, I think the winner came in in like 2 minutes and 18 seconds. I think (Secretariat’s) OK.”