Why is it so hard to win the Preakness and the Belmont stakes in the same year?

by apium

Question by sean p: Why is it so hard to win the Preakness and the Belmont stakes in the same year?
Why is it so hard to win the Preakness and the Belmont stakes in the same year?

It seems as if Afleet Alex and Empire Maker are the only horses to do that in the past 15 years and that in most cases the Belmont Stakes winner doesn’t even race in the Preakness Stakes, is there reason for this?

Best answer:

Answer by Eilise
Empire Maker didn’t win the Preakness and Belmont. He only won one Triple Crown race. He finished second in the Derby behind Funny Cide. Empire Maker skipped the Preakness and Funny Cide won it, too. So it was Funny Cide that won 2 out of 3 that year. Empire Maker came back in the Belmont and won, making him the 2003 Triple spoiler.

My guess as to why it’s hard for Preakness winners to win the Belmont is that the Preakness is a speed race and the Belmont is a stamina race. With modern breeding practices it’s becoming more and more unusual for a horse to be bred for both speed and stamina. The good news is several breeders now say they’re trying to breed horses with both qualities.

“The Belmont Stakes winner doesn’t even race in the Preakness” because trainers often skip the Preakness so their horse will be well rested for the Belmont. Another reason is some trainers have a horse obviously bred for the Belmont distance. The horse has often already failed at shorter distances so trying him in the Preakness would be futile.

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