Triple Crown Format to Be Scrutinized

Executives at the three Triple Crown tracks have discussed changing the format of the thoroughbred showcase in the wake of racing fatalities at the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, the New York Times reported today.

The newspaper said the racing officials, in response to public concern over the deaths of Union City and Prairie Bayou, might want to allot more time between the races to ease the physical demands on the horses.

“This was a tragic year,” said Joe DeFrancis, the president of Pimlico Race Course, the site of the Preakness. “We talk about ways of improving the Triple Crown every year. After this year’s series, we asked ourselves if we should consider something dramatic.”

DeFrancis told the New York Times the talks are preliminary and he doubts there will be quick action.

“It’s an evolving process,” he said. “We’ll keep talking over the summer and see where it leads.”

The 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby is the first of the three races for 3-year-olds and is run on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Two weeks later, the Preakness is run at 1 3/16 miles in Baltimore. The 1 1/2-mile Belmont in New York is three weeks after that.

This year, Union City broke a leg in the Preakness and had to be destroyed, the first breakdown in the Triple Crown since 1959. In the Belmont, Prairie Bayou, the Derby runner-up and Preakness winner, fractured a leg and had to be destroyed.

“What happened this year brings the subject up,” Jerry Lawrence, New York Racing Assn. executive vice president, said. “I don’t think the spacing of the races caused the injuries to those two horses this year.

“But it’s true the public perception may be otherwise, and it can be powerful. The only change I’d favor personally is to equalize the spacing; put three weeks between the Derby and the Preakness and leave the three weeks between the Preakness and the Belmont.”