(LEX 18) — Golden Tempo's connections have decided to skip the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, following the horse's Kentucky Derby victory — a decision that is reigniting a broader conversation about whether the sport's most prestigious series needs a new schedule.
The move mirrors what happened last year, when Sovereignty's team bypassed the Preakness Stakes after winning the Kentucky Derby. The pattern has put renewed pressure on horse racing's governing voices to consider restructuring a series that currently packs three races into a five-week window between early May and early June.
Dr. Alan Ruggles, a surgeon with Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, said the decision to skip the Preakness is understandable — and that the compressed timeline is a core part of the problem.
"There could always be factors of body soreness, or something else they want to evaluate between races. The two-week time period is really tight," Ruggles said.
He said the issue is less about the risk of injury and more about the inability to make a thorough, science-based assessment of a horse's health in such a short window after the Kentucky Derby.
"It's happened with many horses before, and you have to respect their decision. They know the horse best," Ruggles said. "Many horses don't race that many races in a 5-week span, that's unusual," Ruggles said.
With the Preakness off the table, the Golden Tempo team is planning to point toward The Belmont Stakes in June.
Ruggles acknowledged trainer Kenny McPeek as one expert already advocating for a revised Triple Crown schedule. Ruggles said he would support spreading the races out — and would be comfortable entering his own horse under a restructured calendar, provided the horse checked out between races.
"If the races were spaced out, sure, it'd be more likely the horses would continue to race in the series and it's probably in the horses' interest to have more time off in general," Ruggles said.
He added that changing the schedule would not diminish the prestige of the series.
"I'm not that much of a traditionalist that it (the schedule) would have to be the same. I personally don't think it would diminish it. If a horse wins all three of those races, they're a pretty good horse, doesn't matter how close (together) the races are," Ruggles said. "It would keep the excitement going longer and I'm all for that," Ruggles said.
Industry leaders are likely already having discussions about restructuring the schedule, particularly if high-profile Derby winners continue to bypass the Preakness.
