Tom Chuckas on Preakness/TC Spacing

[Merlinsky]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-crown-spacing

[Danzig]

Saw the article earlier but didn't bother to read....seems an earlier than usual make a change call.

[Aly-Sheba]

You know what makes the Triple Crown so great? It's because it's so hard to win and should be reserved for great horses, not just good ones. There have been plenty opportunities for someone to sweep in the last bunch of years and none were good enough to pull it off. Imo if they spread the dates out it won't mean the same.

[pointman]

With the way horses are run today and the new Belmont day card, they have to be seeing the writing on the wall regarding the quality of horses the undercard stakes will draw going forward.

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by pointman

With the way horses are run today and the new Belmont day card, they have to be seeing the writing on the wall regarding the quality of horses the undercard stakes will draw going forward.

The quality of the undercard races at the Preakness has not been that strong over the past decade. I think this has more to do with the trend of a dwindling number of Derby horses returning for the Preakness, with the perception being that the Preakness is the "weak link" of the Triple Crown series. Ironically, in recent years, the Preakness has been a better barometer for 3YO champion than either the Derby or the Belmont.

The little attention horse racing already gets will be watered down even more if the TC is spread out 3-4 months. By the time the Belmont Stakes comes around in August, people will already forget about who won the Kentucky Derby.

Imagine if Baseball Basketball and Football had a 4 month playoffs. People would get tired of it real fast.

[letswastemoney]

Worst idea.

It doesn't matter if today's horses are slow. There will always be a winner, and the Preakness field this year is not too bad. One of the best challenges of winning the Triple Crown is that new horses come in for the second leg.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by helicopter11

The little attention horse racing already gets will be watered down even more if the TC is spread out 3-4 months. By the time the Belmont Stakes comes around in August, people will already forget about who won the Kentucky Derby.

Imagine if Baseball Basketball and Football had a 4 month playoffs. People would get tired of it real fast.

Who said anything about spreading the TC out 3-4 months? They are only talking about adding one more week between races. Instead of 2 weeks between the Derby and Preakness, it would be 3 weeks. I don't know if they would add an extra week between the Preakness and Belmont.