Pushing to Change the Triple Crown's Grueling Schedule

Even as excitement builds around California Chrome's bid to become the 12th Triple Crown winner and the first in 36 years, there may be growing momentum to radically alter the grueling three-races-in-five-weeks format that helps make the feat so rare.

Stuart Janney III, the vice chairman of the Jockey Club and a member of the New York Racing Association's board, is joining Tom Chuckas, the president of the Maryland Jockey Club, in calling for the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes to be spread out over three months. Janney said there was a groundswell of support from owners and trainers for a potential scheduling change, which is already stirring intense debate.

'I think it's a possibility that it could occur in the next couple of years,' Janney said.

No matter how California Chrome fares June 7 in the mile-and-a-half Belmont Stakes, Chuckas said he would seek a meeting with officials at Churchill Downs and the New York Racing Association to explore changing a format that traditionalists hold dear.

The current drought, which began after Affirmed outdueled Alydar in three scintillating contests in 1978, is the longest in Triple Crown history. Patrice Wolfson, the owner of Affirmed, is vocal in her opposition to change.

'It would just be awful,' she said. 'It is a wonderful, unique set of races and, if you changed it, it would invalidate it. It's a special group of races, and the timing is perfect, and a horse has to be up to it.'

Penny Chenery, the owner of Secretariat, who completed the sweep with an unforgettable 31-length romp in the Belmont in 1973, is equally adamant.

'It would make it an entirely different event,' she said.

The spacing and order of the races has not always been the same. The Preakness was run before the Derby 11 times, for instance. In 1917 and 1922, they were held the same day. Sir Barton was recognized as the first Triple Crown champion in 1919.

'I respect tradition, but I also think tradition cannot impede the growth or betterment of the industry,' Chuckas said. 'When we get our most attention, we tend to consolidate, which is not beneficial.'

Chuckas's proposal would keep the mile-and-a-quarter Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May but move the mile-and-three-sixteenths Preakness to the first Saturday in June and the Belmont Stakes to the first Saturday in July. He believes that could extend interest and add value to the middle leg, which is now contested two weeks after the Derby at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

Only two starters from the 19-horse Derby field joined California Chrome in the Preakness. Art Sherman, the 77-year-old trainer of California Chrome, expressed how uncomfortable he was with the turnaround, saying most horses require at least 10 days to recover from a race. Todd Pletcher, a top trainer who regularly claims a deep roster of 3-year-olds, started four horses in the Derby. He skipped the Preakness for the third consecutive year.

'The philosophy of the trainers has drastically changed over the years,' Chuckas said. 'It is hard for them to bring a horse back from the Derby in two weeks and run a horse three times in a five-week period. Most of them will not do it.'

Recent history suggests the tightly bunched spring classics can take a toll on young horses that are still developing physically and mentally. Big Brown, the last horse to start in the Belmont Stakes after sweeping the first two legs in 2008, was so thoroughly defeated that his jockey, Kent Desormeaux, eased him in the stretch. Although I'll Have Another looked impressive in taking the Derby and the Preakness two years ago, he was scratched on the eve of the Belmont with a career-ending leg injury.

Orb, last year's Derby winner who was partly owned by Janney, never flashed the same form after he reached the winner's circle at Churchill Downs. After he ran fourth in the Preakness and third in the Belmont, he was so worn out that he was sent to bucolic Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., to recover. He finished third in the Travers, known as the Midsummer Derby, without the benefit of a prep race. He struggled home, finishing last of eight when he faced older horses for the first time in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and was then retired.

Janney, a Maryland native, said he would have been opposed to running Orb in the Preakness if he had not won the Derby.

'These 3-year-olds have had pretty rigorous campaigns going into the Derby, and the Derby is a very taxing race with 20 horses,' he said. 'To run them back in two weeks from the perspective of what their careers are going to look like, it doesn't make sense.'

Officials at the New York Racing Association, whose flexibility would be critical, declined to comment.

John Asher, a spokesman for Churchill Downs, said the organizers were happy with the Kentucky Derby's position on the first Saturday in May but would be open to discussing changes for the rest of the series.

'We have not received a formal request to participate in any discussion of the remaining Triple Crown schedule,' he said. 'But if the industry wants to take a close look at this great series of classic races, we would be happy to be part of that discussion.'

Still, traditionalists are firm in their preference toward keeping the current conditions in place.

Steve Cauthen, the rider of Affirmed, said what he viewed as one of the greatest accomplishments in sports could lose significance.

'If you change it, it's not the same,' he said. 'It doesn't count.'

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