(CNN) — When trainer Cherie DeVaux opted not to run Golden Tempo in the Preakness in May, it marked the third time in five years that the Kentucky Derby winner skipped the second leg of the Triple Crown.
DeVaux’s decision, borne out of concern over her horse’s recovery, reignited what’s become a familiar refrain around horse racing: Does the race calendar need to be changed?
On Monday, two of the sport’s biggest stakeholders came together to provide a little calendar clarity. The New York Racing Association (NYRA) and Churchill Downs Incorporated announced a partnership to form what they’ve called the Thoroughbred Championship Series (TCS), a collection of six races that begins with the Kentucky Derby in May and ends with a championship race in September.
Via a points system, entrants will not only compete for prize money in individual races but also vie for a $5 million prize pool divided up based on the series’ final standings.
“The inaugural Thoroughbred Championship Series was developed by CDI and NYRA around a shared vision for a season-long championship and a group of races that provided the right foundation to launch in 2027. We felt it was important to move forward and establish that foundation with the six races announced today,” said Breck Thomas-Ross, senior director of communications for Churchill Downs Incorporated, in a statement to CNN Sports.
“This is the first season of what we expect will be a long-term championship, not the last. As the series evolves, we are open to conversations with additional races and organizations that share our vision and would strengthen both the championship and the sport.”
There is one small caveat: The six-race series does not include the Preakness. It conveniently skips from the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday of May to the Belmont Stakes in early June, and right over the Baltimore-based second leg of the Triple Crown.
Furthermore, with a jam-packed schedule that runs races through September (the exact dates have yet to be determined), it leaves little wiggle room even if the Maryland Jockey Club, which oversees the Preakness, wanted to move off its traditional date two weeks after the Derby.
That leaves one major question: Could the new series effectively kill the Triple Crown, the one constant the sport has had going for it?
Bill Knauf, the president and general manager of the Maryland Jockey Club, told CNN Sports his organization would have an announcement on Wednesday.
On a brief teleconference, NYRA and Churchill Downs organizers made no mention of the Preakness (though they did call the Derby, Belmont, Matt Winn Stakes, Jim Dandy Stakes, Travers Stakes and as-yet-unnamed Championship Race the sport’s “defining races.”)
Instead, they explained that the series – shorthanded as the TCS – is designed to follow a pattern familiar to sports fans: a playoff-like series that includes standings and ends with a champion. They’ve even coined a catchphrase already: The Chase for the Vase.
“The Triple Crown shows us every year how powerfully these events capture people’s attention,” said David O’Rourke, the president and CEO of NYRA. “Our aim is to continue that energy over the full season and give fans a reason to stay with the sport’s best three-year-olds from May into the fall.”
To be fair, the industry has long struggled to sustain its peak beyond the five-week window of the Triple Crown, and the evolution of the sport’s equine athletes has made Triple Crown bids more elusive. Horses simply don’t run like they used to and are rarely asked to compete a mere two weeks after a big race, as the Preakness demands. Golden Tempo, for example, ran just four times before entering the Kentucky Derby and just once – as a Belmont winner – since.
In contrast, the Derby was Secretariat’s 10th race in 1973. He raced 21 days after winning the Belmont.
Traditionalists argue that the Triple Crown is meant to be hard, and it is not impossible. American Pharoah won it in 2015 and Justify just three years later. However, no horse has won both the Derby and Preakness since Justify. In 2025, Journalism came closest, finishing second to Sovereignty by 1½ lengths at the Derby before winning in Baltimore.
Then again, Bill Mott opted out of the Preakness, and Sovereignty came back to win the Belmont, just like Golden Tempo this year.
Asked if he was concerned about the new series diminishing the Preakness, owner Mike Repole told CNN Sports via text, “No. How many horses have run in the Derby the last three years and run back in the Preakness?”
That said, there is also no guarantee that any horse will run in the majority of the six races to crown a legit champion (and most assuredly, none will compete in all six.) This isn’t basketball, where a Game 7 is required. These are horses. The same issues that make the Preakness difficult for today’s animals will apply to a six-race series.
A champion won’t necessarily be the best horse, but perhaps the one that either gamed the system to win the most points or ended up as the last horse left standing.
More than a few people – even those bound to tradition – have conceded that a calendar reconfiguration wouldn’t be a bad idea, such as pushing the Preakness back to June and the Belmont to July. But with different entities in charge of each race, not to mention two different networks (NBC and Fox), getting anyone to budge has been difficult.
In April, Churchill Downs Incorporated announced it had purchased the intellectual property of the Stronach Group, which owned and operated Pimlico Racetrack. At the time, it seemed the Derby organizers would then work with NBC, its TV rights partner, to figure out a way to package the first two legs of the Triple Crown together and effectively freeze out NYRA and the Belmont.
Instead, Maryland pushed back again, exercising its right of first refusal to purchase the rights back, leaving the Preakness on the outside looking in.
All that said, the Triple Crown’s death is hardly imminent with this new series. The Preakness’ shorter distance of 1 3/16 miles is much more appealing than the grueling mile and a half of the Belmont, and race organizers certainly could bump up the purse from $2 million. There are also plenty of trainers – two-time Triple Crown winner Bob Baffert among them – who rarely balk at running Derby winners back two weeks later in the Preakness.
And the allure of winning the Triple Crown remains very real. It is part of the sports nomenclature, a recognizable standard of excellence that comes with significant financial gain. After breaking a 37-year Triple Crown drought, American Pharoah went on to win the Haskell and Breeders’ Cup Classic, as well as take second at the Travers. His initial stud fee was $200,000.
While applauding the new series, Baffert – who trained Pharoah and Justify – said via statement on his X account, “The greatest achievement in racing will always be winning the Triple Crown – the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes.
“The Triple Crown has sustained our sport for more than 150 years, and it will continue to do so for another 150 or more, if we appreciate and care for it. 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.”
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