There is no debate, it should not be changed.

The writer should please explain why the drought between Citation and Secretariat occurred?

The Triple Crown is a test of speed, endurance and racing soundness, making it easier to achieve eliminates its allure.

Why not limit the field in the US OPEN or Masters to make it easier to win all four, why let all these unknown golfers into the field, just have the top 40 play? 

The current standard for the TC races highlights errors in the industry, the errors should be corrected not compounded  through concealment. This would be like ordering buckets after shooting holes in the roof, rather than learning responsible behavior and fixing the leaks.

“However, some critics’ notion that thoroughbreds are “forced” to race is uninformed baloney. Thoroughbreds are born to run. It is what they do. Anyone who has spent more than a day with them knows you can’t force them, for long, to do anything.”  

This quote is great!!  I too have always laughed at the argument thoroughbred horses don’t want to run and are forced to.  Guess we are forcing them via remote control when they are weanlings and running against each other in the paddocks of their farms.  Better look into that. 

Also couldn’t agree more with the TC comments and the notion it should not be changed.  Everybody these days wants instant gratifiation.  If we can’t have it NOW…make it or change it so we can. 

It’s the government brain implants that force them to run in the paddocks.

“The argument for changing the Triple Crown begins again”. 

No it doesn’t.

Trainer incompetence should not be a reason to change the Triple Crown. If they ran the Belmont one week after the Preakness, IHA wouldn’t have been scratched (based on his gallops.) If the IHA connections are telling the truth about the injury, they could run the Belmont in October, an he still would’ve been scratched. It could be argued that spacing the races more would make it more difficult.

Leave it to horse racing to want to change the most successful events in the sport

Agree to first point.

IHA had the problem, probably before the Derby.  Probably got to point that level of med required to control was too much to pass the tests, or it continued to tear in spite of meds.

Fact that he galloped indicates they were nursing the tendon, not that it was okay.  Gallop indicates minimal exercise. He has a bowed tendon in spite of D.O. statements to the contrary (at least it will end up as one based on Bramlage comments)

Same injury that finished Eskendereya and others, and it finished IHA.  October?  Not a chance. November? Not a chance.  A year from now, maybe, but not the same horse.

Modifying the Triple Crown by changing the distances or the spacing would solve nothing.  It would just relegate the Triple Crown to afterthought status instead of a desirable goal.

However, I would like to see a return to breeding horses for soundness and stamina.  Why is that not being done?  The answer is really pretty obvious.  It’s not really greed but rather survival that motivates the breeding of sprinters.  (And sprinters ARE what are being bred now.  Horses are running 6 furlongs in incredibly fast times but races of 1 1/8 miles or longer are being run much slower than decades ago.)

Most owners lose money.  So, in order to survive financially when owning a horse, they need to have some sort of quick return when purchasing a horse.  That means racing them as 2 year olds which also means owning horses that excel at distances of 4 1/2, 5, 6 or 7 furlongs.  And then being able to retire the successful ones early to breeding which is much better financially than racing.  So, horses bred for speed are what people buy and consequently what the breeders will breed.  Then, because most of the horses are sprinters, the tracks start carding more sprint races (and fewer distance races) which just accelerates the vicious cycle to shorter and shorter races.  (It used to be that only 2 year olds ran races shorter than 6 furlongs.  Now, 5 furlong and 5 1/2 furlong races are everywhere.  And races longer than 1 1/16 miles are rarely seen.)  And if all that isn’t enough, the top-rated sires are the sprinter sires because the vast majority of races are now sprints and because young sires that aren’t successful with their 2 year-olds or 3 year olds disappear or are sent overseas.)

Some people don’t care what distance most horses race.  I do.  I believe that horses that race longer distances are generally sounder because they incur less pounding on their knees and joints.  And, while it is generally believed that some racing by 2 year olds is helpful to the formation of strong bones, the focus of developing racehorses should be on building a foundation for sound, older horses.  Not to mention, at least in my view, that longer-distance races are much more interesting and exciting than sprints.

Can it be changed?  Yes, but it would require a generally buy-in by the racing community to return to distance racing and that the financial incentives be changed to favor older horses running longer distances.  If it were me, I would downgrade ALL races under one mile to no higher than Grade 2 status (and only a few races such as Breeders Cup races shorter than 1 1/8 miles be graded higher than Grade 2).  No races restricted to 3 year old or younger (except the Triple Crown races) would be given Grade I status.  Purses for sprints would be reduced to a fraction of the purses for distance races.  And, any offspring of stallions conceived before that stallion reached the age of 5 or older would not be registered with the Jockey Club (to eliminate the incentive to retire horses early).

There would be no argument if a horse won the TC in recent times. So, we want to make it easier so someone can do it and we can say YAY i saw a Triple Crown?

The races are run when they’re run….there is no requirement for the Derby winner to race 2 weeks later….if the owners feel the horse is too tired after his derby run, he could skip the Preakness and wait for a later date.

I appreciate your response, but I disagree with many of your points.  The racing industry is in crisis.  If racing is to prosper in the future and not disappear, action needs to be taken to bring fans back to the sport.  In my opinion, such actions include encouraging horses to stay in training years longer and returning racing to the longer, classic distance races that used to be the gold standard for racing (for the reasons I gave above).

Is it easy to change course?  Absolutely not.  It requires people in the industry to sometimes put the industry’s long-term prosperity ahead of their short-term gain.  That may be contrary to what you refer to as “market dynamics and money management”, but without that occasional sacrifice, the racing industry will not survive.

I do agree with you that training practices have deteriorated.  However, if it was merely a matter of poor training methods and not a matter of breeding mostly just sprinters, the times of races would be slower across the board.  But sprint races are now run much faster than before whereas distance races are much slower.  That is a strong indication that the horses being bred are inheriting the genes of sprinters to a much larger degree; not just being trained poorly.

By the way, while I don’t have your level of participation in racing, I am a horse owner (flat not steeplechase) and very much understand the costs associated with it (and I do not believe that I called horse owners greedy).  I do congratulate you that your horses have all paid their way.  Mine have not.  And from all that I have read, my experience of horses that have not paid their way is much more typical than yours.

 You are just kidding, right?

To me, what would REALLY help is if the Triple Crown tracks and Breeders’ Cup banded together and followed the lead of Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural and being followed by Woodbine Entertainment Group at its tracks where Harness racing is conducted: Beginning with the two year olds of 2014 or ’15, no horse bred to a stallion aged four or younger will be eligible for major stakes races at The Meadowlands or other tracks Gural owns nor will they be eligible to race in major stakes at Woodbine and Mohawk Raceway.  I would take Mr. Gural’s plan further and expand that to age five.

Breeders’ Cup Ltd. can also help by announcing that beginning in 2013, the distance of the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic are both being lengthened to one and five-eighth miles.  At the same time, any BC race under 1 1/4 Miles (except for the Mile turf race) will see those races capped with a purse of $1,000,000, with the sprint races (except the BC Sprint, which goes back to the beginning of the BC) cut to a maximum purse of $750,000.  At the same time, the BC Marathon, which would in this be lengthened to 2 1/4 Miles would also see a major purse increase to $1.5 Million to “send a message” to breeders and trainers that if you want the big money, you have to go in longer races.

As for the Triple Crown, the only change I’d be looking at making would be the move the Preakness and Belmont Stakes back by one week each, except that would create a problem for NBC because that is the weekend of the US Open Golf Championships.  There is a precedent for doing that in that The Belmont has been contested on what is Father’s Day weekend in the past (including when Citation won the Triple Crown in 1948) and before 1969, there was only a two-week gap between the Preakness and Belmont (including in 1968 when The Belmont was actually run on June 1.

It appears the article in question has been removed from the Troy Record site.

I think the Triple Crown should be changed – but in one way only.  It should become for 4 year olds and up. It is more fair to have more than one shot at it, and it shouldn’t be for 3 year olds, as it causes them to be pushed too hard too soon.

You make an excellent point Larry.  I blame trainers as well.  To be honest one has to doubt how much actual training goes into creating a sprinter – or is the horse basically just running on natural talent?

If your horses are paying their way it is a testament to your program.

 Not a remedy!!!  Slow gallops on deep tracks develop strong tendons and ligaments. Then comes speed.  Geezzz.