- Saratoga Race Course: According to report, Preakness might be pushed back two weeks next year
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Triple Crown schedule is facing a substantial facelift next year.
The company that runs the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore is considering moving the race two weeks later on the calendar, according to a report posted Wednesday night by Bill Finley of the Thoroughbred Daily News.
If that happens, there would be a four-week gap between the Kentucky Derby, which traditionally is run on the first Saturday in May, and the Preakness.
It would also create a one-week gap between the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, based on the Belmont’s traditional calendar position.
Aidan Butler, CEO Of 1/ST Racing & Gaming, told Finley that moving the Preakness would be “in the best interests of horses and horse safety” because there would be more recovery time for Derby horses.
“Horse safety is more important than tradition,” Butler told Finley.
In an email, New York Racing Association vice president of communications Pat McKenna said, “NYRA has concerns about fundamental changes to the structure of the Triple Crown. We have no plans to move the date of the Belmont Stakes.”
The current five-week spacing format has been in place since 1969.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the schedule in 2020, when the Derby and Preakness were run in September and October, respectively. The Belmont was pushed back two weeks later in June.
For years, there have been calls for the three races to be spaced out more, since horsemen don’t often run horses back in two or even three weeks.
There remains pressure on the winner of the Derby to race back in the Preakness to preserve the prospect of a Triple Crown. But there is barely any pressure on the horses who don’t win.
When Rich Strike won the Derby at betting odds of 80-1 last year, his connections skipped the Preakness, citing the original plan for the horse and sticking to it.
This year, multiple scratches in the lead-up to the Derby, including morning-line favorite Forte on the morning of the race, exhausted the also-eligible list, and thus putting potential Preakness horses into the Derby field.
Derby winner Mage was the only Derby horse who ran in the Preakness.
