Quote:
Originally Posted by Cardus
All of us are aware that few horses run in all three races now. I do not have the numbers in front of me, but we know that that is true. And the number of starters in all three races is down significantly when comparing the last 10 years to 30 and 40 years ago.
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You may be surprised, I was. In the last 45 years only 9 times did more than 3 horses compete in all 3 races. 3 in the 70's, twice in the 80's,3 in the 90's and the last in 2001.With the addition of GARod 3 of the last 4 years have had 3 participants in the TC. It's random and cyclical.
The biggest difference is the diminishing number of Derby/Preakness starters. Another difference is that in the 70's quite a few horses that were Derby/Belmont starters ran in a race other than the Preakness in between, rather than resting until the Belmont. Some even ran in all 3 TC races and a race in between the Preakness and Belmont. Gulch/Avies Copy in 87 and Cefis in 88 were the last to run the quad.