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Chase The Triple Crown Or Thoroughbred Championship Series? Trainers Weigh In
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- Chase The Triple Crown Or Thoroughbred Championship Series? Trainers Weigh In
Up until now, the first question a trainer was often asked after winning the Kentucky Derby was whether or not their newly-minted classic winner would enter the Preakness Stakes in two weeks and vie for the Triple Crown.
With the recent announcement of the Thoroughbred Championship Series, a lucrative challenge that includes the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes but leaves out the Preakness, that answer has suddenly become more complicated. A further wrench was thrown into the equation when the Maryland Jockey Club announced the Preakness would shift back by a week, and run three weeks after the Derby, leaving just two weeks before the Belmont.
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Though not impossible, it will be difficult to pursue both series for top 3-year-olds, and there are different motivations for going down either path.
For the Triple Crown, the value is in the tradition. Winning the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont is horse racing's most recognizable accomplishment in the North American sport. It resonates with the general public, as well as breeders and stud farms that are set in their ways to determine what makes a stallion prospect. A new series could take a long time to establish a comparable foothold inside and outside of the industry.
Working in the favor of the six-race Thoroughbred Championship Series is cold, hard cash. The series has a $5 million prize pool, and if horses are in contention for it, that means they've already performed well in some of the most lucrative races on the calendar.
Though there is plenty of time for the calendar to further shift between now and the 2027 Triple Crown season, the Paulick Report asked a number of trainers which series they would target if they had next year's Kentucky Derby winner with the schedule as it stands today.
Gwen Davis/Davis Innovation
Dale Romans
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"I'm a Triple Crown man. I'm a racing historian. I love horse racing. I'm a Triple Crown man, so hopefully they get all that worked out and get the Triple Crown in the series, put it back where it belongs. It was difficult, but it was supposed to be difficult. That's why it's a big deal if you win it."
Wesley Ward
Lillian Davis photo
"I would always go to the Triple Crown. I've got white hair, and I've been doing this since I'm 16 years old here in New York, and I'd like to continue the tradition."
Nellie Carlson photo
Kenny McPeek
"It's going to depend on how much money is on the table, but it might be the Championship Series. I've always believed that they needed to create an "American Derby" that ran the first Saturday in July. I really thought that Pimlico should have contemplated being the third leg on the first Saturday in July. I think that would have been really dynamic, but that would have confused horsemen, because Matt Winn in late June or early July isn't going to be a race that's gonna attract the high-level horses, so there's still a hole in the calendar."
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Brad Cox
Lillian Davis photo
Cox was asked how he'd respond in the hypothetical of a Kentucky Derby winner's circle interview, which influenced his answer.
"I would give you the the logical trainer/horsemanship response. We'll see how he comes out of it. I tell people all the time that to ask if you're gonna run in the Preakness the morning after a horse has run, at that point, probably the hardest, roughest-run race he's ever gonna run in his life, to think about where you're running the horse back almost seems insane. It's just so demanding on him.
"We've had some experience in the race over the last six years, and it's a race like no other. It's taxing, demanding, and to wake up the next day or that night and try to think where you're gonna run your horse back is not even something I'd want to be thinking about. I'm wanting to evaluate the horse and let him tell me over the next few weeks what he wants to do."
Nellie Carlson Photo
Mark Casse
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"I would say, given where now they've moved the Preakness back a week, if I win the Derby, I'm going to the Preakness. The Preakness is still the Preakness. I think the new series is great. Hopefully, everybody can get together and maybe give us a little more time for the Belmont.
"I was always like, 'Leave it alone, leave it alone,' but the more I looked at it, people don't realize how much things have changed. I've been doing this 47 years. When I first started training, we could give Bute, Banamine, Dex, everything the day before and we had nobody inspect them. Now, we have stricter regulations, which are great because our our equine athletes are much safer. Our jockeys are safer. It's better, but it brings more difficulties.
"So, the way it works now, is that you have to do any type of treatment to a horse, it's two weeks (on the vet's list). Well, if you run on Saturday in the Derby, you can't do anything (after the race), right? For the break with three weeks, you now have three or four days to look and see – Is there something that I need to address? And the even better news is if I address it, I still have the ability to bring this horse back and breeze him before the race and to see whether he's okay, whether I've helped him, or whether we need to back off.
"The way it is, you're going in blind. So, by doing that, it actually makes it safer. So, yeah, I would go to the Preakness now, and I'm hoping maybe we can get a little more time to the Belmont.
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"To really throw it out there, If it were me, I would leave the Belmont at 1 1/4 miles (the distance it's been run at Saratoga the last three years while Belmont Park was being rebuilt). I think a 1 1/2-mile race is pretty insignificant. It's not something we breed for anymore. It's an entirely different-run race. I think if you really wanted to have a series, make it 1 1/4 miles. I've said all along, everybody says we have to worry about tradition. We have to worry about being history, not tradition. So, we have to constantly be better, and to do that, unfortunately sometimes you've got to make changes."
Amelia Green
NYRA Photo
"I think you've got to base it horse by horse. Do you think you have a horse that can run back that quick for the Triple Crown, or do you think it needs more time to mature and go the other route? I think anyone in racing that's been in racing for a long time, obviously the Triple Crown has such prestige. So, I think if you have the horse that you think can win the Triple Crown, why not stick to the Triple Crown?"
Whit BeckmanLillian Davis photo
Whit Beckman
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"I'm a traditionalist. As we've looked towards race meets and tracks and everybody, I don't think there's enough cooperation in terms of preserving what we hold to mythical status. I think we don't do enough to preserve tradition in a lot of cases. This is a very traditional sport, and I'm one of those that sticks by the original configuration.
"But, there's a lot more factors. We're in a new day and age, and I get why people want to veer from that, but what I don't understand is why anybody would want to work against it.
"I could see it on an individual basis for each horse, but I wouldn't want to incentivize not using (the Triple Crown) as the true test of champions."
This story was originally published by Paulick Report on Aug 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
