Triple Crown? What Triple Crown?
Forty years on, unlearning lessons
Frank Vespe
November 12, 2026
If – when? – horse racing in the United States meets its demise, the cause of death will almost certainly be: Repeated self-inflicted wounds.
For the latest, we can, again, thank the suits at Churchill Downs, Inc. Churchill Downs’s announcement this week that nominations were open to the “Thoroughbred Championship Series” (TCS) glossed over what they’re not open to, namely the Triple Crown.
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In recent decades, owners could nominate their horses to the Triple Crown series at once via a single payment – for 2026, it was $600 prior to January 26 or $6,000 after that date and prior to April 6.
But this time around, Churchill is soliciting TCS nominations featuring a single nomination for all six legs of the TCS (and all four legs of the filly equivalent). The company has no plans to offer a single Triple Crown nomination, it told Blood-Horse.
Seems you can now nominate your horses to two legs of the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont – at once through the TCS. And for good measure, throw in four additional races, including the … wait for it… oh, boy, this is big… Matt Winn Stakes, too! (Underwhelmed? Cynic).
For the Preakness? As far as Churchill’s concerned, you’re out of luck, pal.
Obviously, the Maryland Jockey Club (TMJC) will seek nominations on its own and should do a robust business. After all, Grade 1 races with $2 million purses don’t grow on trees, and TCS or no TCS, the road to the Triple Crown ain’t going through the Jim Dandy anytime soon.
“The Maryland Jockey Club and the entire state of Maryland look forward to bringing the iconic Preakness Stakes, the second jewel in racing’s Triple Crown, back to Baltimore at the new Pimlico Race Course on Sunday, May 23, 2027, 22 days after the Kentucky Derby,” the company said in a statement. “We will open nominations for the Preakness, with additional details coming very soon.”
Forty years ago, the decision by Spend a Buck’s humans to skip the Preakness – a juicy bonus awaited them with a win in the Jersey Derby at Garden State Park – led the Triple Crown tracks to band together to preserve their, and the Thoroughbred industry’s, most valuable brand.
And now?
Two of the Triple Crown tracks are industriously trying to destroy the third. The call, as they say in horror movies, is coming from inside the house.
This whole sorry episode would be laughable if it didn’t have such negative potential consequences for an industry that isn’t exactly the picture of health.
Ready, fire, aim, boys!
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