Triple Crown

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- It turned out that a non-decision is precisely what settled who would ride GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) and GI Belmont S. winner Arcangelo (Arrogate) in the GI Travers. Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano rode both horses to their victories in the Triple Crown series and had his choice of which one to ride in the Travers on Aug. 26 at Saratoga Race Course. He holds the Travers record of six wins. Mage's trainer, Gustavo Delgado, asked Castellano on Monday to give him...

Since the advent of professional sports, change has been a necessary part of the game. Adjustments have been made to make sports more safe, more practical, and more entertaining for the audiences. While change is never easy, sometimes it's necessary. From adding the three-point line in basketball, to implementing more stringent concussion protocols in football, to adding the pitch clock in baseball, making changes in sports doesn't mean taking away from the sport. Instead, change helps the sport evolve with the times, and make the experience as positive as possible...

The recently concluded Belmont Park spring/summer meet generated $14,746,421 in average daily handle, a 9.7 percent increase over 2022 the New York Racing Association, Inc. announced Friday. Originally scheduled for 40 days of live racing, NYRA was forced to cancel two cards due to poor air quality caused by wildfires in Canada. All-sources handle for the 38-day spring/summer meet totaled $560,363,986, which compares to $591,250,409 in 2022 when the meet was contested over 44 days. The blockbuster June 10 Belmont Stakes Day card, highlighted by Arcangelo's (Arrogate) victory in the...

Churchill Downs Incorporated is extending the suspension of Bob Baffert through calendar year 2024 based on what Churchill Downs called "continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing he poses to CDI-owned racetracks." Churchill released the following statement: "Mr. Baffert continues to peddle a false narrative concerning the failed drug test of Medina Spirit at the 147th Kentucky Derby from which his horse was disqualified by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in accordance with Kentucky law and regulations. Prior to that race, Mr. Baffert signed an agreement...

There are a lot of opinions about the Triple Crown. Most of them center on the Preakness and the spacing of the three races. In my opinion, the Preakness is the victim of the Kentucky Derby's success, or as T.D. Thornton said so well in his article June 12: "Underscoring how the Derby itself is devolving into a be-all/end-all, one-shot endeavor at the expense of the Triple Crown race that follows it, for the first time in 75 years, Mage was the only horse out of the Derby to enter...

Well, Triple Crown, now that the book has been closed on your 2023 campaign, it's time for your annual performance review. Yes, I realize you're not a tangible, actual entity, and that your entire being is really just a concept based around the sequence of three historic horse races conducted over a five-week span every spring. As such, perhaps you think you're above a little constructive criticism. But we're living in a new era of accountability and I know you want to do your part to remain the focal point...

ELMONT, NY - Breathe easy. Following significant improvement in air quality conditions throughout New York State, the 155th GI Belmont Stakes--celebrating the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's performance of a lifetime in the final leg of the Triple Crown--will go on as scheduled Saturday evening. If there's one sire's name that you want to see when handicapping the 1 1/2-mile Classic, it's Tapit. Responsible for a co-record four Belmont winners, two second-place finishers and two third-place finishers, the 22-year-old Gainesway kingpin will be represented by potential race favorite Tapit Trice (Tapit)...

ELMONT, NY - With the rising sun attempting to make its way through hazy skies as air quality health advisories remain in effect throughout the New York City area due to the Canadian wildfires, eight of the nine GI Belmont Stakes runners were in action during the first hour of training on a cool Wednesday morning. Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) and Tapit Shoes (Tapit), both equipped with white bridles and NYRA's commemorative 50th Anniversary Secretariat Belmont S. saddle towels, made a favorable impression in their first day of training...

ELMONT, NY -- Last year's champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence), scratched on the morning of the GI Kentucky Derby with an untimely foot bruise, was tabbed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the 155th running of the GI Belmont Stakes at Tuesday's post-position draw held in the Triple Crown Lounge at Belmont Park. The Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable colorbearer, last seen defeating subsequent Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) in dramatic fashion in the GI Curlin Florida Derby Apr. 1, will exit from post...

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) will feature a series of Secretariat-related fan giveaways and vintage artifacts to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's historic 31-length victory in the 1973 Belmont Stakes during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival from Thursday, June 8 to Saturday, June 10. The first 5,000 fans to pass through the main admission gates at Belmont Park Friday, June 9 will receive a commemorative poster of Secretariat crossing the finish line in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. The first 5,000 through the main admission gates Saturday, June 10...

At a time when so many people seem to be allowing a duty of vigilance to crumble into morbid defeatism, it seems a little unfair that our sport should be going through such a hard time even as we approach the 50th anniversary of the most luminous tour de force in the story of the modern breed. Of course, as some powerful evocations of the time have lately reminded us, Secretariat arrived as a sunbeam into a wider world darkened by Vietnam and civic unrest. And nor should we deceive...

Dave Johnson, who was the track announcer for Secretariat's win in the GI Belmont, joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast to share his memories of the unforgettable day in racing's history.