Triple Crown

Maryland Governor Wes Moore has announced that the state of Maryland has matched the $85-million bid from Churchill Downs for the intellectual property and branding rights to the Preakness, which will now be held by the state. The story was first reported by the Baltimore Banner. Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement provided to the Banner that his administration has made "historic investments" to ensure the future of Maryland's racing industry, and that the $85-million decision will secure a "vital asset for our state." It will "preserve Maryland's position...

The trendlines have been all too visible and all too visceral-nationwide declining foal crops and numbers of mares bred. Mainstays of the Thoroughbred breeding industry in the state that has produced the likes of Smarty Jones, Hard Spun and Unique Bella, however, are beginning to see tentative signs for optimism. "Our number of mares bred has remained relatively the same the past four years," said Brian Sanfratello, executive secretary of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA). Indeed, the number of mares bred to Pennsylvania stallions has narrowly fluctuated between a...

Some 3 1/2 years ago, when the New York Racing Association (NYRA) first announced that the GI Belmont Stakes would be relocated to Saratoga Race Course during the extensive renovation of Belmont Park, there was plenty of hand-wringing about whether or not the three-year move to a different track and a cutback in distance from 12 to 10 furlongs constituted over-tinkering with the third jewel of the Triple Crown. "The debate is healthy. It means fans care," I wrote in a Dec. 10, 2023 installment of this column. "But the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - You better get used to failure and you better get used to losing if you're striving to do something historic or epic. Those are the words of Mike Repole after coming within a neck of winning his first GI Kentucky Derby with Renegade (Into Mischief), the 2-1 morning-line favorite for Saturday's GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. "I probably take losing better than I take winning," said Repole, who campaigns the $975,000 Keeneland September graduate in partnership with breeders Robert and Lawana Low. "If you ask me...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - As a most memorable May gives way to June, trainer Cherie DeVaux believes that Golden Tempo (Curlin) is ready for his next challenge, the GI Belmont Stakes Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. Four weeks and three works after his dramatic victory in the GI Kentucky Derby, which secured DeVaux a forever place in racing history, Golden Tempo breezed Saturday and shipped Sunday from central Kentucky to upstate New York for the third and final Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. Just before his victory by a neck at...

When American Pharoah crossed the finish line in the 2015 Kentucky Derby, I immediately turned to my husband and said, "Let's go to the Belmont." In my mind, the best horse so rarely gets the good trip in the Derby, I had a hunch he might end the Triple Crown drought. That evening, I purchased four general admission tickets to the Belmont. Five weeks later, our kids (aged 12 and 10 at the time) stood on our soccer chairs inside the grandstand at Belmont Park and saw history with their...

LAUREL, MD--With the first two finishers in this season's Kentucky Derby opting to bypass the Preakness Stakes, something that hasn't happened in a quarter of a century, a full field of 14 readies to earn Classic glory in Saturday's second jewel of the Triple Crown, which will be staged at Laurel Park for the first, and quite likely, the only time. Despite the absence of what looks like the divisional leaders at this point, the 151 renewal of the Preakness Stakes offers a competitive group of 3-year-olds. One of this...

TDN's Chief Correspondent Bill Finley is joined by Senior Contributing Editor Alan Carasso and Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack to handicap Saturday's GI Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park. FINLEY: Honestly, it's hard to like anyone in a race that looks like it will be a mad scramble and is made up of so many horses who really aren't Triple Crown caliber. The right move is probably to go for a longshot and just hope to get lucky. The pick here will be Pretty Boy Miah (Beau Liam), who is 15-1...

Having last week celebrated a first GI Kentucky Derby winner carrying the venerable black-and-cherry silks of the Phipps family, today we remind ourselves that the man who postponed that moment for 37 years has since built an iconic legacy of his own. In thwarting Easy Goer with Sunday Silence, in 1989, Arthur B. Hancock III secured parallel boons for the modern breed. One, of course, required the agency of those far-sighted Japanese breeders who made Sunday Silence one of its most vital influences. But the other is Hancock's own farm,...

As the industry-wide debate over the Triple Crown's spacing grows increasingly loud, Whit Beckman is choosing to listen to his horse. Ocelli (Connect), the gutsy colt who defied 70-1 odds to finish third in the GI Kentucky Derby after drawing into the big event just two days beforehand, is one of three Derby contenders preparing to take on the second leg of the Triple Crown. Should he find the winner's circle, he would become the first maiden to win the GI Preakness Stakes since 1888. Beckman's confidence to swim against...

With a healthy GI Kentucky Derby winner bypassing the GI Preakness Stakes for the second straight year and only two starters out of the 18-horse Derby likely to be entered on Monday, the long-debated realignment of the Triple Crown race spacing is edging more toward "when" than "if." It could happen as soon as 2027, which would be appropriate in the sense that the Triple Crown is already set for a major reset by reverting to established venues and distances after being in flux since 2024 because of the overlapping...

My obsessive nature has been consumed by this Triple Crown spacing mess. It was obvious that Cherie DeVaux was going to decide to skip the Preakness, although I think she was pure in her process. If the industry is trying to grow its appeal beyond the Derby, AND NYRA won't budge from its traditional June date--and for the life of me, I don't know why--why doesn't the Preakness, now with Churchill Downs at the helm, best market the Preakness, and often the Triple Crown, and leapfrog the early June Belmont...