Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty won't run in Preakness Stakes.

[Greenbacks]

Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty will not run in the Preakness Stakes, officials announced Tuesday, ending any chance at a Triple Crown for a seventh consecutive year.
"We received a call today from trainer Bill Mott that Sovereignty will not be competing in the Preakness," said Mike Rogers, executive VP of 1/ST Racing, which operates the Preakness. "We extend our congratulations to the connections of Sovereignty and respect their decision."
Mott told Preakness officials the plan will be to enter Sovereignty in the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel of the Triple Crown, on June 7 at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. Mott on Sunday morning had foreshadowed skipping the Preakness in the name of long-term interests.
"We want to do what's best for the horse," Mott told reporters at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. "Of course, you always think about a Triple Crown, and that's not something we're not going to think about."
This is the fourth time since Justify won all three races in 2018 that the Preakness will go on without a true shot at a Triple Crown. The two-week turnaround from the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness and changes in modern racing have sparked debate around the sport about spacing out the races.
Prominent owner Mike Repole earlier Tuesday posted on social media a proposal to move the Belmont to second in the Triple Crown order, four weeks after the Kentucky Derby and sliding the Preakness back further with the aim of keeping more of the top horses involved.

 

[Michelangelo]

Posted this on the main forum. May as well copy it to here.

///

Booooo

Bill Mott is a great trainer.

But for the good of the sport all Kentucky Derby winning horses should run in the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown. Unless, of course, they are injured.

They are three year olds in peak physical form. I'll never buy that two weeks is not enough time between races.

I'm always very disappointed when this decision is made to hold the Derby winner out of the Preakness.

Additionally it is a big blow to Pimlico. We've already lost too many tracks. All involved should do everything reasonable to promote their sport, not just for themselves, but for the lesser tracks and all the horsemen they support and employ and the fans who in turn support them.

Racing fans love the prospect of a Triple Crown winner.

 

[5o'clockcharlie]

With the Belmont Stakes again being run at 1 and 1/4 miles at Saratoga, I can understand trainers doing this. If they did win a TC, there will be an asterisk applied because the true TC includes the grueling 1 and 1/2 miles at Belmont.

 

[Michelangelo]

I don't know Charlie. Winning a distance abbreviated Belmont after also winning the first two legs of the Triple Crown is still a tremendous feat. Asterisk or no asterisk.

The sport needs new fans. Go to any track or casino midweek or on weekends that don't feature very high profile races. It's one old guy after another.

The sport needs to do everything it can to encourage new fandom. There is nothing more exciting in horseracing than a Triple Crown quest. It's definitely not a boost to the sport to blunt the chase by the winner of the Derby not participating in the Preakness.

It's a dying sport. It needs all the positive promotion it can get.

 

[5o'clockcharlie]

It’s been a dying sport supposedly for 20 years now. And yet the purses have grown tremendously over the last few years. Like everything else, the sport will be fine.

 

[5o'clockcharlie]

And I’m not saying I wouldn’t like to see Sovereignty to try to win the TC because I would. But I get it when a trainer or owner doesn’t want to run a horse on 2 weeks rest.

 

[joeb4369]

Yes this is bad news for Pimlico and the horse racing industry but good news for NYRA and Saratoga knowing other trainers might skip the Preakness and go to Saratoga to beat Sovereignty while also preparing their horses for other big races like the Haskell or the Travers. I just want to see a lot of these 3 year olds to stay sound this year so they can keep racing as 4 year olds and even 5 year olds and not just shipped to the breeding shed and retired.

 

[mneumeier1030]

Adding my $02 in
I agree with most of you guys and I know it’s all about horse health.
My wife owns horses and we don’t want the horses hurt in any way. I would suggest keeping derby first Saturday in May and the move Preakness a month away in June then have Belmont a month away in July. We need young blood in horse racing fans. Would like to see horses run when there 4 & 5 years old but we know it’s all about the money for stud. If u guys remember John Henry the horse I think ran till he was 8-9 years old. Special horse I get it but Horse racing needs a shot in the arm.
I’m just a big horse racing fan and hate seeing these track close up. Go Get guys and hope you all make a score at Preakness and all your future bets
Neumy

 

[Michelangelo]

John Henry. You bet I remember. Grass or dirt the horse won race after race. And I collected a few of them.

If I'm not mistaken the reason he ran so long was because he was useless at stud because he was gelded before they knew how great he was.

 

[Michelangelo]

Great article about John Henry and his humble, cantankerous beginnings before becoming "America's horse".

John Henry: The People’s Champion

In the long and colorful history of Thoroughbred racing there’s a wealth of heartwarming stories, but few can match the exhilarating rags-to-riches saga of John Henry.

www.americasbestracing.net

 

[mneumeier1030]

Great article.
Just to say tracks that has closed up.
Rockingham Suffolk Arlington Calder Hollywood golden gate
Hialeia just to name a few even trotter race tracks closing
Taking away tracks from racing fans don’t help the cause.
There was even a bill to close gulfstream in Florida but keep the casino open. Don’t think it passed thank god but stay tuned

 

[Michelangelo]

Great article.
Just to say tracks that has closed up.
Rockingham Suffolk Arlington Calder Hollywood golden gate
Hialeia just to name a few even trotter race tracks closing
Taking away tracks from racing fans don’t help the cause.
There was even a bill to close gulfstream in Florida but keep the casino open. Don’t think it passed thank god but stay tuned

Don't forget Lincoln Downs and Naragansett and Green Mountain and Scarborough and all the fairs like Marshfield and Brockton and Great Barrington. All gone in addition to Suffolk and Rockingham. And that's just New England.

Purses may be up at the surviving tracks but the sport has lost venues everywhere. That ain't good for the sport.

They need high profile horses to run. John Henry as you pointed out was a great ambassador for the sport. Cigar comes to mind also.

The quest for the Triple Crown is a HUGE fan magnate. This sport needs all the horse hero help it can get.

 

[mneumeier1030]

Churchill race 1
$5wp 5 chalk
&1 exacta 5/13468

 

[mneumeier1030]

Churchill race 1
$5wp 5 chalk
&1 exacta 5/13468

Easy winner by 10 lengths 5/4 exacta chalk city

 

[mneumeier1030]

+$13.52 profit for race. Not going to spend it all in one place lol.

Easy winner by 10 lengths 5/4 exacta chalk city

 

[mneumeier1030]

Gulfstream race 9 4 minutes
$5wp 2
$2 exacta box 2/3/5/8

 

[mneumeier1030]

Gulfstream race 9 4 minutes
$5wp 2
$2 exacta box 2/3/5/8

Nope bad ride by 2
Ran 3rd
3/6/2 final
+$13.52 / -$34

 

[5o'clockcharlie]

Just because small tracks are closing up does not mean the industry is dying. Small tracks just can’t survive anymore in this business. Churchill spent millions ona new turf course. Belmont is going through a huge renovation right now. Do you think they would be putting money into those tracks if the horse racing industry was dying?

 

[5o'clockcharlie]

Great article.
Just to say tracks that has closed up.
Rockingham Suffolk Arlington Calder Hollywood golden gate
Hialeia just to name a few even trotter race tracks closing
Taking away tracks from racing fans don’t help the cause.
There was even a bill to close gulfstream in Florida but keep the casino open. Don’t think it passed thank god but stay tuned

I can’t speak for all the tracks you listed but I can for 2 of them. Arlington plain and simple shut down because of lack of business. No one was going there anymore. As for Calder, CDI is in the casino business now more than horse racing and casinos aren’t allowed in Florida. CDI owns 10 race tracks and the only one that doesn’t have a casino is Churchill Downs.

 

[5o'clockcharlie]

One more factor that is causing many small tracks to close is technology. In our day if we wanted to bet the horses you had to go to the track and place your bets(or to an OTB). Nowadays a guy can sit on his sofa and place bets all day.

Hey I’m with you guys and don’t like seeing tracks close or horses not try for the TC, but that’s the way things are now. It’s a different world from when we grew up. But I don’t think the industry is necessarily dying because of it. Let’s hope not anyways.