Finding Dates for Preakness, Belmont No Easy Task

Perhaps this will neatly fall in line, with the GI Preakness S. being run two weeks after the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Belmont S. three weeks after that. That would mean a Sept. 5 Derby, a Sept. 19 Preakness and an Oct. 10 Belmont. Four weeks later, Keeneland would host the Breeders' Cup.

That may be the best thing when it comes to restoring some order to a Triple Crown that has been turned upside down by the coronavirus, but it doesn't come without its own set of problems. A mid-September Preakness and a mid-October Belmont would fall way short of the norm, from attendance to handle to television ratings to overall interest. From a bottom-line perspective, they could be a disaster. Are The Stronach Group (Pimlico) and New York Racing Association (Belmont) ready to sign up for that?

The Kentucky Derby is the Kentucky Derby. Though attendance figures to be down because it will be run at an odd time, there will still be a huge crowd and the television ratings and the handle don't figure to take much of a hit. Labor Day weekend is still the summer and Sept. 5 is a day where the competition from college football won't be nearly what it is Sept. 19 or Oct. 10, the meat of the season. Churchill Downs found the perfect alternative date.

The Preakness and the Belmont need the summer. That's when the competition within the sporting world includes only baseball and no one is thinking college football. That's when the college kids who flock to Pimlico are home and looking for something to do on a Saturday. You think Preakness and Belmont and you think festive atmospheres, great weather, concerts, young people dressed to impress, and, yes, people who drink too much.

You're never going to get anything close to that Sept. 19 or Oct. 10. It's a time of the year when people are immersed in football, college and pro, and a day at the track might mean temperatures in the forties and gloomy skies. There's nothing about that time of year that lends itself to making a day at rickety Pimlico or cavernous Belmont attractive. You're going to see huge drops in the size of the crowds and everything else.

The communications director for Maryland Governor Larry Hogan tweeted Tuesday said that discussions are ongoing to move the Preakness to September, but that decision is ultimately going to be made by Belinda Stronach and her staff.  The race cannot be run at Laurel as, by law, it must be held at Pimlico.

The Stronach Group (TSG) did not make any commitments Tuesday. Neither did NYRA. Their silence suggests that they are aware of the problems that come with falling in line after the Kentucky Derby and are exploring other options.

“We're working through the process in consultation with appropriate parties and stakeholders and yes, all scenarios are on the table,” NYRA President and CEO David O'Rourke said.

NYRA may have more to say Wednesday as there will be a meeting of the Board of Directors.

What NYRA and TSG have to figure out is if they want to jump ahead of the Derby and run their races beforehand. That's the best chance they have of maximizing revenue or, at least, not losing too much money because the races had to be moved. The best day to run the Belmont would be on its regularly scheduled day, June 6. The same goes for the Preakness.

The problem with the original dates is that committing to them would be taking a huge risk. No one knows when life is going to get back to normal, but it's entirely possible that come mid-May or early June holding a huge horse racing event will not be doable. In that respect, scheduling the Preakness and Belmont in September and October is the safer bet.

So how about meeting somewhere in the middle? Would a June 20 Preakness followed by a Saturday, July 4 Belmont work? There's no reason why the Triple Crown races, in this extraordinary year, have to be run in their traditional order. There's no reason why the distance of the Belmont, if it were to be the middle leg of the Triple Crown, can't be shortened to a mile-and-a-quarter. If society has returned to some sense of normalcy by then and holding the races is feasible, the June 20-July 4 schedule would likely be a huge success.

There are other problems the tracks have to solve as the movement of the Derby will have serious ramifications for a number of other 3-year-old races. Right now, the GI Travers S. is scheduled to be run a week before the GI Kentucky Derby. That won't work. The race will have to be moved back a few weeks. That could impact the GI Haskell Invitational, which may also have to find a new spot on the calendar. The GII Jim Dandy S. may have to be postponed for a year. Finding a place where the GI Pennsylvania Derby is a good fit will take some work.

But those are lesser problems. All we know right now is that the 2020 Triple Crown will look like nothing the sport has ever seen before. But, exactly what will that look be? It's a fascinating and complex question and getting it right will be no guarantee.