MARYLAND - Maryland reacted to Monday's announcement of a three-year-old championship series by changing the date of the Preakness.
Governor Wes Moore (D) announced the Preakness, which has traditionally been run two weeks after the Derby, will now be held on the Fourth Sunday in May, 22 days after the "Run for the Roses".
"By moving the day, you’re then providing additional time and space for our horses and the people who compete in the Derby to be able to then now compete to be able to be part of that Triple Crown,” Moore said.
The Preakness has become increasingly irrelevant to the horse racing community in recent years, with three of the past six Kentucky Derby winners opting to come back on two weeks rest, and just 13.7 percent of Derby starters overall.
In the past three decades, horses that would have typically run every three weeks, are choosing longer breaks between races, often going more than a month between starts.
The break between the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, five weeks, would more commonly fit into a modern training pattern than adding an extra race into the mix.
Of the 24 horses who were originally entered in this year's Kentucky Derby, only five had run races with 22 days of each other, which would be the task assigned to the new schedule.
“It’s been discussed for a very long time (and) we recognized the different trends and training methods recently,” Maryland Jockey Club CEO Bill Knauf told The Associated Press. “We entered the discussion maybe even saying, ‘Hey, is two weeks the right amount? I think the week was the right placement. It still gives an incredible test for a horse and a champion to go through that, even at three weeks.”
Moore's announcement that the race will be moved back 8 days completely ignored another major factor that would hurt Maryland's chance of remaining in a modern Triple Crown.
Unless the New York Racing Association chose to move back the date of the Belmont Stakes, and given they didn't include the Preakness, or any other Mid-Atlantic based track's 3-year-old race into their six-race series, it doesn't seem like Maryland's going to get buy in from its Triple Crown partner.
That would put just a 13-day window between the Preakness and Belmont, which is a 1 1/2-mile race, the only major race at that distance run in the United States, likely meaning no horse would go towards a Triple Crown.
The loudest proponent for keeping Maryland in the Triple Crown has come from 2-time Triple Crown winning-trainer Bob Baffert, who has been suspended by Churchill Downs and NYRA this decade.
"The Preakness is integral to racing’s history, present, and future, and I hope nothing detracts from its significance. If I have the right horse, I’ll continue to run in Baltimore every May, as well as in The Thoroughbred Series."
The Thoroughbred Series includes five existing 3-year-old races at tracks owned by the New York Racing Association and Churchill Downs: The Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes, the Matt Winn (Churchill), the Jim Dandy (Saratoga), the Travers Stakes (Saratoga), and a new September race at Churchill slated to be the championship of the series.
Details on any point system and how a proposed $5 million bonus would be allocated were not announced on Monday.
The series skips over existing Grade 1 races in Maryland (Preakness), New Jersey (Haskell), and Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Derby).
The placement of the Preakness on the Fourth Sunday in May could also impact Fair Hill.
Fair Hill, which returned to racing last year, was scheduled to conduct a day of traditional thoroughbred racing for the first time on the Sunday of Memorial Day this year before it was rained out, ahead of its traditional jump meet on Memorial Day itself.
In 2027, the Preakness would be the weekend before Memorial Day, but from 2028-2031, there would be a direct conflict on that Sunday, as it would fall on the holiday weekend.
Maryland has made significant investments in horse racing over the past few years, including $85 million to protect the Preakness intellectual property from being acquired from Churchill Downs, which may have played a role in Maryland not being involved in the Championship Series.
Maryland is also currently spending over $400 million to demolish and rebuild Pimlico in Baltimore, which led to the 2026 Preakness being held at Laurel Race Course, which is slated to be shuttered after Pimlico is completed.
There's also been a complete resurfacing of the Fair Hill turf course, which led to no racing from 2020-2024.
Horse racing owners and trainers will speak with their entries next year whether the Preakness, which will continued to be aired on NBC in a new television deal, will remain a major event on the horse racing calendar.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
