Letter to the Editor: New Pimlico Could be Triple Crown ‘Fix’

[Wandering Eyes]

After reading “Enough Already. It's Time to Fix the Triple Crown” by Bill Finley, I must say I find myself not only disappointed by Mr. Finley's attitude, but also shocked by how he misconstrues and ignores the facts.

In 2019, Bill Mott was planning to run Country House in the Preakness. Mott actually said, “We're leaning toward the Preakness, since he is the Derby winner and we don't want to pooh-pooh the Triple Crown. We want to support that.” But two days later, Country House was coughing, placed on antibiotics, and out of the race. This was not a decision to skip the race because it came two weeks after the Derby. Country House was so ill in fact that it led to complications which had him in and out of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, he eventually developed laminitis, and was retired without ever racing again after the Derby.

At the time of the running of the 2021 Preakness, Medina Spirit was still the official Derby winner. The split sample test result didn't even come back until early June. Medina Spirit did run in the Preakness, finishing third. As Mandaloun was not at the time of the running of the 2021 Preakness a contender for the Triple Crown, there was no deliberate snub of the Triple Crown series. It is worth noting that Mandaloun also did not compete in the Belmont Stakes.

Yes, not running Rich Strike in the Preakness was a deliberate decision on the part of his connections. Until this year, he was the only Derby winner whose connections deliberately made the decision to skip the middle leg of the Triple Crown since a huge bonus to run in the Jersey Derby instead lured away Spend A Buck in 1985. (To refresh Mr. Finley's obviously poor memory, Grindstone did not compete in the Preakness in 1996 only because a knee injury ended his racing career.)

So the reality is it's been 40 years since Spend A Buck, and in that time the only horses deliberately skipping the Preakness are Rich Strike and Sovereignty. Two horses, not four, and those in 2022 and 2025 as Pimlico itself literally falls down around us, held together with chewing gum, twine, and baling wire. (Alright, chewing gum and twine are likely an exaggeration, but baling wire definitely is not.)

So one must ask the legitimate question of if trainers and owners are actually skipping decrepit Pimlico and the exaggerated bad reputation of the Park Heights neighborhood in which it sits, using the two weeks between races as a polite excuse.

Yes, exaggerated. I live 3.3 miles from Pimlico according to Google Maps, and despite being an elderly and disabled white female who walks with a cane, I have never once been afraid when in Park Heights whether at Pimlico, the Dept. of Motor Vehicles office, shopping, or anything else. Yet I constantly come across comments from people not residing in the Baltimore metro area about how they are afraid to come to Pimlico, often from young men who otherwise put on quite the macho front.

Though there has been much in the news about the ongoing revitalization of the Park Heights neighborhood, all the changes for the better there have been completely ignored by the racing community at large. Even when discussing the fact that after the 150th Preakness, the current Pimlico will be demolished to make way for a new, modern Pimlico racing ignores the fact that the neighborhood is in the process of being rebuilt as well.

The Triple Crown is already in the process of being fixed. Just not in the way Mr. Finley wants. In 2027, there will be a brand new Pimlico and a brand new Park Heights neighborhood. Give them a chance before trying to change anything else. I believe everyone will be pleasantly surprised by the positive effect those changes will have on the Preakness field.

Diane Hain

Pikesville, Maryland

 

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