Self-Preservation or Self-Destruction?

Over the past few years, the Preakness has felt like it was getting the short straw among the three Triple Crown races.  And, let's be honest, it sort of has.  The Kentucky Derby will always be the race.  And you can only clinch the Triple Crown at the Belmont.  Although, winning the Triple Crown is impossible if you skip the Preakness, which has been happening more and more in recent years.  Which the Preakness organizers have certainly noticed.

The Kentucky Derby is always held on the first Saturday in May.  The traditional date for the Preakness is two weeks later, with the Belmont Stakes to follow three weeks after that.  However, with the way thoroughbred horses are being trained in this era, three races in five weeks is no longer as feasible.  As a result, many horses run the Kentucky Derby, then skip the Preakness before returning for the Belmont.  That includes some Derby winners, including 2026 champion Golden Tempo, ending any chances for a Triple Crown and rendering the Preakness almost an afterthought.

Organizers of all three races have been aware of this problem for quite a while.  And there was an easy and obvious solution to it.  Moving both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes back a week.  That would create a three-week gap between the Kentucky Derby and Preakness while also preserving the three-week gap between the Preakness and Belmont.  It would push the Belmont back to the third Saturday in June (Father's Day Weekend) and extend the Triple Crown to six weeks overall instead of five.

Complicating that plan is the fact that the Belmont Stakes likes its date.  And, since the Belmont is the longest of the three races, it makes sense that trainers would want the extra time to prepare for it.  Which, admittedly, does put the Preakness in a bind.  And it certainly leaves the race with a weaker field than the Kentucky Derby.  So, that inferiority complex is justified.  Especially after the recent announcement by Churchill Downs and the New York Racing Association (which puts on the Belmont Stakes).

Earlier this week, Churchill Downs and the NYRA announced plans for a six-race, season-long Thoroughbred Championship Series, beginning in 2027.  The series will start with the Kentucky Derby and end with a championship race back at Churchill Downs in September.  It will also include a third race at Churchill Downs, two events at Saratoga and the Belmont Stakes.  Notably absent from the $5 million series is the Preakness.

At this point, it's important to make a significant note.  Back in April, Churchill Downs Inc. (the organization that runs the Kentucky Derby, as well as all other races at Churchill Downs) reached an $85 million deal to purchase the intellectual property rights to the Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.  However, the State of Maryland had the opportunity to block the sale, and they exercised that right.  So, instead of being acquired by Churchill Downs, the Preakness will continue to be owned and operated by the state.

It's easy to see why the State of Maryland made that decision.  Not only is there a rich horse racing history in the state, the Preakness is a source of civic pride.  At the same time, it might've been a little short sighted.  Because it solidified the lone wolf status of the Preakness.  More significantly, by keeping the Preakness separate, it prevented the Triple Crown from becoming one unified series.  By looking out for themselves, they weren't looking out for the best interest of the series.  Which could end up being counterproductive.

Churchill Downs, Inc. and the NYRA didn't just come up with the Thoroughbred Championship Series overnight.  It's clearly been in the works for a while.  Had Churchill Downs, Inc. taken over control of the Preakness as planned, it's easy to see the Preakness being included in the series.  It's hard to envision where it wouldn't have been.  More importantly, that would've unified the three races.  Which would've gone a long way towards making those schedule changes, as well as anything else that would strengthen the Triple Crown as a whole.  Instead, Maryland and the Preakness are on their own.

Because Maryland and the Preakness are on their own, they took it upon themselves to find a solution to their Kentucky Derby scheduling problem.  The solution they came up with was to move not just the date of the Preakness.  They changed the day!  Instead of the third Saturday in May, two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, they moved it to the fourth Sunday, three weeks and a day later.  By giving trainers an extra week to rest their horses, they'll theoretically be more likely to enter them in the Preakness.

However, there's one glaring problem with this new schedule.  The date of the Belmont isn't changing, so it doesn't do anything to help the three races in five weeks issue.  It makes the gap between the Kentucky Derby and Preakness longer, but it also makes the gap between the Preakness and Belmont Stakes shorter.  So, the horses will actually have less time to go from the shortest Triple Crown race (the Preakness) to the longest (the Belmont).  Throw in the fact that the Preakness isn't part of the Thoroughbred Championship Series, and it's just as likely, if not more so, that trainers will still have their horses skip the Preakness. 

Then there's the sheer awkwardness of the new date the Maryland Jockey Club has selected.  There's nothing else on the third Saturday in May.  That's always been Preakness Day.  The fourth Sunday in May, however, can be Memorial Day Weekend depending on the year.  And there's already a ton of stuff going on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend without the Preakness.  Will people still want to watch and/or attend the race on a busy holiday weekend?

From a TV perspective, it may not make too much of a difference.  The Indy 500 and Preakness are on different networks, and, barring rain, the Indy 500 will be over long before the Preakness starts.  However, the attendance question would still remain.  The Maryland Jockey Club sees the Sunday Preakness as a positive since it means the Black-Eyed Susan will move to Saturday and they can make a weekend of it.  Which is fine when it's not Memorial Day Weekend.  But you have to wonder if it'll help or hurt attendance when they fall on Memorial Day Weekend.

In a way, the Maryland Jockey Club's decision to reschedule the Preakness makes total sense.  They care about the Triple Crown, but that's not their primary concern.  Their primary concern is their own race.  And they think this was in their best interest.  Was it really, though?  Because I can easily see this move backfiring and making the Preakness even more irrelevant than they think it is right now.

Maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe this is exactly the thing that will preserve the long-term survival of the Preakness and the long-term viability of the Triple Crown.  Right now, though, it feels like the opposite will happen.  The Preakness would've been better served had its organizers worked with the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes instead of against them.  Instead, the Preakness appears to be headed on even more of an island.  And the move, while well-intentioned, will end up doing much more damage than good.