In a few weeks, they’re going to start tearing down what’s left of old Pimlico, a historic racetrack that has been rotting in the middle of Baltimore for decades, revived year after year only for one reason: When you have the middle jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown, you do whatever you can not to lose it.
As Journalism won Saturday’s 150th edition of the Preakness, surviving one of the most rough-and-tumble stretch runs you’ll ever see and coming back from what seemed like an impossible position with 1/8th of a mile to go, you can understand why the state of Maryland is about to invest $400 million to give the place the facelift it deserves.
Yes, even in a fractured sport that struggles to gain mainstream interest outside of five weeks every year, the Preakness still matters and Maryland lawmakers have put huge stakes on the table to keep it.
But that investment isn’t going to pay off unless horse racing gets its act together. As thrilling as Saturday’s race was, and as great of a horse as Journalism appears to be, did anyone but the sport’s dwindling die-hards care?
The answer, of course, is not really. The moment Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty was withdrawn from consideration for the Preakness, the race was essentially rendered meaningless in the greater sports landscape.
And it didn’t have to be that way.
In the old days, a rematch between Sovereignty and Journalism – who ran eyeball-to-eyeball in the Derby until the former pulled ahead in the stretch – would have been worth at least a few headlines over the last couple weeks.
Instead, Sovereignty’s connections decided that coming back just two weeks after the Derby, which is almost unheard of at any level of horse racing these days, was not a good fit for their horse. We’ll see him again in three weeks at Belmont, rested and ready.
With the Preakness field coming up pretty weak, Journalism trainer Michael McCarthy threw his hat in the ring and got rewarded with a victory in a $2 million race. But given the two hard races he already has under his belt, the odds of bringing Journalism to New York for a rematch are low.
Maybe they’ll meet again in late August at the Travers Stakes, known in racing as the mid-summer Derby, or the season-ending Breeders’ Cup Classic. It’s possible the Derby will end up being their only meeting.
And given the way this Triple Crown has played out through two races, we’ll always wonder “what if?”
What a blown opportunity for a sport that could use the kind of rivalry we used to see all the time, whether it was Affirmed and Alydar or Sunday Silence and Easy Goer. The best raced against the best in the biggest races over and over again. The horses had actual fan bases who showed up at the track. The owners and trainers often didn’t like each other.
And it was awesome for horse racing, for the broadcasters, for the bettors and casual fans who just wanted to tune in for some human and equine drama.
Can it ever get back to that?
Not the way the Triple Crown is structured these days.
The problem with changing anything about the Triple Crown is that Churchill Downs, Pimlico and the New York Racing Association all operate as separate entities. If you want to move the Preakness two weeks later, well, you need to get Belmont first to move their race later in the calendar, too.
That’s not so easy when everyone has their own piece of real estate.
But the most powerful people in horse racing need to understand one thing: It is to the benefit of everyone if the best horses run in all three legs of the Triple Crown. And it’s especially crucial to Maryland, which is about to start this massive construction project on the premise that the Preakness is going to attract the Derby winner every single year barring injury.
Unless that happens, Maryland has wasted its time and money. And it’s not so good for Belmont’s piece of the pie, either, if there’s almost never going to be a chance for a Triple Crown winner – or at least a sustained rivalry – on its biggest day.
As Pimlico closes its doors and moves the Preakness about 15 miles south to Laurel Park for a couple years, all the relevant entities need to get in a room and decide what’s best for the future and for horse racing.
Because even a great race and a great horse doesn’t do much to keep your sport relevant when there’s no overarching story to tell.
That’s just basic Journalism.