The Week in Review: Triple Crown, Let's Talk…

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 on which our sport so vitally depends. So let's begin…

For starters, thanks for saving the best performance for last. We all know you weren't technically “on the clock” this year, because no Triple Crown sweep was on the line this past Saturday.

Sure, there's always tremendous appeal in getting to potentially witness a once-in-a-generation horse run the Grade I table in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness S., and Belmont S. But some of the better overall experiences on Belmont Park's big day have been years in which no Triple Crown sweep was up for grabs. Although a 50,000 attendance cap would have been imposed either way, allowing 48,089 racegoers to enjoy a comparatively uncrowded afternoon of formful stakes action and big-event socialization without having to endure excruciatingly long lines for betting and basic amenities is always a plus.

The Belmont undercard stakes this year touched on just the right mix of intriguing and, at times, inspirational story lines. The distaff division is enjoying a nice run right now, anchored by a reliable cast of well-matched characters, with Clairiere (Curlin) executing an impeccably timed late run to win the GI Ogden Phipps S. for the second consecutive year. Caravel (Mizzen Mast), a Pennsylvania-bred mare with a penchant for unleashing triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures when sprinting on the turf against males, did so again on Saturday, extending her winning spree to five with a speed-centric victory in the GI Jaipur S. And although it hardly seems fair to keep relegating fan-fave Cody's Wish (Curlin) to undercard status when he's an A-list headliner in his own right, this deep closer again uncorked a loop-the-group move that wowed the crowd (112 Beyer!) and left a decent field reeling in the GI Metropolitan H., proving he currently has no peer in the dirt mile division while winning for the sixth straight time.

The crowning achievement, of course, was the gutsy score by 7-1 upsetter Arcangelo (Arrogate) in the Belmont S., propelling his conditioner, Jena Antonucci, into the history books as the first woman trainer of a Triple Crown race winner.

The “Test of a Champion' win by the underdog gray (who cost just $35,000 as a yearling) also capped a nimble feat of Triple Crown jockeying by Javier Castellano, who pulled off the unusual double of winning the Derby with Mage (Good Magic), and then the Belmont with Arcangelo after Mage ran third in the Preakness and bypassed the Belmont.

Despite being elected to the Hall of Fame in 2017, Derby and Belmont wins had eluded Castellano up until this season. We can now look forward to the drama of Castellano possibly having to choose between riding either Mage or Arcangelo should the Derby and Belmont winners cross paths later on this summer, perhaps in the GI Travers S. Regardless of which one he opts for, it's a nice problem to ponder.

But please, Triple Crown, in future years, spare us the “smoke show” that preceded this year's Belmont Stakes Day, forcing the cancellation of Thursday's racing at Belmont Park and almost putting the big day in doubt until the air cleared.

For certain, dangerous air quality because of forest fires hundreds of miles away is out of your direct control. But the unhealthy haze and apocalyptic-looking yellow skies did happen on your watch, Triple Crown, and like it or not, the sport is going to have to reckon with–and have contingency plans for–similar adverse environmental circumstances down the road. Get ready for a summer of becoming just as familiar with the abbreviation AQI (air quality index) as you are with AQU (Aqueduct).

Winding the watch back five weeks, what stands out is how the entire complexion of the Triple Crown pivoted on the morning of the Derby, when morning-line favorite and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) was compelled to scratch because of a right front foot bruise. That news overshadowed the defection of not one, but three top California-based contenders–Practical Move (Practical Joke), Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Skinner (Curlin)–because they had all spiked fevers earlier in the week.

And although the 15-1 victory by the small-framed Mage had a very likeable “little horse that could” vibe about it, the industry never got to capitalize on that story line because of the sobering and oppressive news of the 12 Thoroughbred deaths at Churchill Downs during the early portion of the Derby meet, a crisis that to this point has not been shown to have any exact or common cause.

Mage managed to win the first leg of the Triple Crown in just lifetime start number four. That's great for the colt and his connections, but not necessarily ideal in terms of adding to the current “less is more” trend of racing top-level sophomores so sparingly. Too many horses are being aimed for the Triple Crown with only two races between the first Saturday in November and the first Saturday in May, diminishing the value of being able to enjoy and assess emerging stars.

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 the Preakness. That hadn't happened since 1948, when Citation  scared off a large portion of his competition en route to his Triple Crown sweep. Mage didn't so much “scare off” his rivals this year as the connections of those horses hewed to the increasingly standard script that calls for post-Louisville bubble wrap and rest instead of crab cakes and robust competition in Baltimore.

As a result, the Preakness this year lured only seven to the entry box. Two of them were Maryland-based longshots and two others were taking a shot chiefly because they had earned paid-for starting berths by winning minor prep stakes earlier in the year.

National Treasure (Quality Road) ended up sleep-walking the Preakness field on the front end. His slow-paced victory was not an artistic success, and the lack of depth in the middle jewel did spur the predictable assortment of columns and social media opinionizing advocating for restructuring the Triple Crown series to better align with the realities of race-spacing.

While fiddling with the Triple Crown schedule remains more of a thought experiment than an actual movement that has traction, the sport is most certainly going to have to brace for a near-term tradition jolt in time for the 2025 Belmont S.

After the 2024 edition, Belmont Park will undergo its projected $455-million teardown and rebuild, and the New York Racing Association will have to decide where to stage the concluding jewel of the series in what is expected to be a one-year interim until the reimagined version of Belmont Park opens.

Moving the Belmont S. to Aqueduct–like during 1963 through 1967, when the current version of Belmont was under construction–is an option. But heading upstate to Saratoga Race Course would also be a tantalizing tweak to tradition.

Are you up for it, Triple Crown?

This concludes your annual performance review. We'll score it a C for both the Derby and the Preakness this year. The Belmont rates an A-minus.

In terms of the overall series, we'll call it a “work in progress.” That's because the sport can always benefit by leaving room for–and expecting–Triple Crown improvement.