Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Triple Crown Noms Drop to 366

February 8, 2010

Led by Eclipse Award winners Lookin At Lucky and She Be Wild, a total of 366 horses have been made early nominees to the three Triple Crown races, it was announced late Saturday night by the Triple Crown racetracks, Churchill Downs, Pimlico and Belmont Park.

All those 3-year-olds were made eligible for a $600 nomination fee due on Jan. 16. Horses can still be nominated, but for $6,000, at a second deadline on March 27. There are usually about a dozen horses nominated at the second deadline.

Regardless, the number of nominations will be down from recent years, reflecting the economic realities of the sport today. From 2001 through last year, more than 400 horses were nominated at the early deadline every year except for 2005, when 358 were early nominees from a crop that was affected by Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome in Kentucky.

The Triple Crown nominations were put under a common form in 1986. Since that time, the early nominees have ranged from a high of 450 in 2007 to a low of 315 in 1990. A company called Triple Crown Productions administered the common forms through last year, and though that company has been disbanded, the racing departments of the three tracks continue to join forces to gather the nominations for the Triple Crown, according to Darren Rogers, a publicist for Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby.

"Our nomination total is down a bit, but the 366 horses on the roster of nominees represent as deep a field of quality prospects as we've seen over the years," Donnie Richardson, the senior vice president of racing for Churchill Downs, said in a statement.

This year's Triple Crown consists of the Derby on May 1, the Preakness at Pimlico on May 15, and the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 5. No horse has swept all three races since Affirmed in 1978.