LEXINGTON, Ky. _ The just-completed Triple Crown series was the most unusual in the history of Thoroughbred racing.
Now let's never do it again.
To be sure, all three were tremendous races. Tiz the Law produced a lights-out performance to win the Belmont. Authentic showed his true talent in winning the Kentucky Derby. And the filly Swiss Skydiver made the Preakness the most thrilling of the three, beating Authentic by a neck in a classic stretch duel.
The quality of the races _ Swiss Skydiver's win was the second-fastest in Preakness history behind only Secretariat's _ have caused some to argue pushing the Triple Crown schedule back, as was necessitated this year by the coronavirus pandemic, might be the thing to do.
"I think the racing industry should, after this season, kind of take a look at the structure of the Triple Crown and see how we might improve it," the legendary Andy Beyer, the man behind the Beyer Speed Figures, told the Off to the Races podcast on The Racing Biz Network last month. "There's no rule that we have to do everything the way we did 50 years ago."
There's no rule, but there's also no real reason to change. This Triple Crown season was an aberration prompted by a worldwide pandemic. The Kentucky Derby moved from its traditional first Saturday in May date to the first Saturday in September in hopes by then COVID-19 would be under control and fans would be welcome at Churchill Downs. Alas, that didn't happen.
After the Derby's date change, Pimlico's powers-that-be moved the Preakness to Oct. 3, in hopes the thing that makes the Preakness the Preakness _ the partying mob that descends upon Old Hilltop every year _ could attend. Alas, that didn't happen, either.
Meanwhile, NYRA decided that this year the last should be first, keeping the Belmont as a June event, making it the opening jewel of the Triple Crown instead of the finale. It did shorten the distance from the grueling mile-and-a-half test to a more reasonable mile-and-an-eighth. Fans were also not allowed at the Belmont.
Not many bothered to tune in on television, either. Only 4 million watched the Belmont, down 35% from 2019. In 2018, the year Justify won the Triple Crown, 12.66 million watched. This year's Kentucky Derby drew 9.26 million viewers, its smallest audience since 2000, the last year it aired on ABC before moving to NBC. The 2020 number was down 43% from 2019.
Matched head-to-head with college football last Saturday, the Preakness drew 2.4 million viewers compared to 5.41 million viewers for the 2019 race, which did not include either the horse that finished first in the Kentucky Derby (Maximum Security) or the declared winner (Country House). By comparison, the 2018 Preakness drew 7.9 million viewers.
Yes, this year's Triple Crown competitors were older, stronger and more experienced. Running in late June, September and October, they were closer to peaking than early spring.
"I think the 3-year-old racing this year has been different but it's been quite satisfactory," Beyer said. "I think starting the series later in the year give horses a chance to mature and really be ready to run top-notch races."
The quality of the racing doesn't matter without the largest possible audience to appreciate those races, however. From early May to mid-June, the Triple Crown has only Major League Baseball as competition. The Final Four and Masters are complete. Football is months away. Holding a Preakness in the middle of a college football Saturday is no way to grow the sport.
And for a sport that too often clings to tradition, the Triple Crown is one worth saving. The 37-year drought was what made American Pharoah's 2015 sweep such a triumph. And a triumph that came during a time of year when the general public is watching. Like so many things in 2020, the Triple Crown had no choice but change, but let's not go back.
