Quote:
Originally Posted by Cardus
The spacing of the races is unduly hard on the horses, provided that they race in all three races.
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.
If changes to the Triple Crown schedule are to be made, then go all in and change the date of the Kentucky Derby.
Given the "way they are trained now argument" that has been used here and elsewhere, is a horse really ready to run 10 furlongs only four months (plus as much as one week) into his three-year-old season?
I suppose that not many people want the Derby date changed, do they?
Why? Tradition.
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Nobody's twisting their arm to run in all 3 races so if it's too arduous for your horse fine, don't run. If you think you've got a legitimate chance to win the Derby, you better think you've got a horse that can do all 3 or don't whine when you've got the inevitable pressure to move on to the Preakness and Belmont even if your horse isn't really in good form. Everybody knows about it, it's an implied contract with the public that you'll keep going if you win the Derby. Don't run in the Derby if you're convinced the entirety of the TC is a bad idea as it stands. Notice we somehow still have a packed Derby field. It's on the people involved to find a way to break their own Derby fever.
Derby fever may overwhelm people, but presumably they have brains and are perfectly capable of doing the right thing by their horse that isn't able to handle all 3 races (which you know some of them know darn well going in if they're honest). They choose to make unwise entry decisions and that's not the TC series' fault. There's no shame in treating races like the Tesio, Peter Pan or Sir Barton as a goal for your horse rather than a prep. You wouldn't need to limit the Derby field if people answered the 'if my horse wins the Derby, will they be able to finish the TC journey well?' before dropping their name in the box.