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There are a few things that strike me. First, the Kentucky Derby is primarily an indication of precociousness. If you remember back to high school, there were guys who were 17 or 18 and had beards and fully adult bodies, and guys the same ages who looked more like 15 or 16. But by the time everyone was 23, the ones who looked like 15 or 16 had caught up. That is part of the reason why you see horses emerging in the late summer or fall who weren't part of the TC, and horses who looked good in the TC races who all of a sudden were getting beat (I don't care if you're a Chromie - Bayern was a better horse by November).
I get that the Derby is important to horseracing for hype reasons, but it is an overrated race in my opinion.
But if that's how soon you want to run a 3YO race at a long distance, fine. But taking young horses and subjecting them to the TC grind isn't necessarily in the best interest of anyone, and may not even be in the best interest of the sport. Might it not be better for racing to extend the TC season so that the Derby is the first Saturday in May, the Preakness is Memorial Day weekend, and the Belmont is the weekend around 4th of July. That way you have about four weeks between the first two legs, and five weeks between the second and third legs. You've got about a month after that to the Haskell, and about eight weeks to the Travers. It's pretty much a perfect schedule to prep for the BC.
It also takes away the advantage to horses running in the Derby and skipping the Preakness.
Now tell me why that would seriously damage the importance of the TC, which by the way is (1) only really important to horseplayers anyway, (2) is only important to everyone else if there is the potential of a TC winner, and (3) a change everyone will forget about in three years.
Last edited by HalvOnHorseracing; 06-12-2017 at 09:32 PM.
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