Just days after state officials announced they had finalized an $85 million deal to acquire the rights to the Preakness Stakes, they learned that Pimlico had been excluded from a new championship racing series organized by the other two Triple Crown tracks.
Churchill Downs Inc. and the New York Racing Association Inc. announced Monday that they are launching a six-race, five-month Thoroughbred Championship Series to be run at Churchill Downs, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course. Three-year-old thoroughbreds that compete in the series will get points across the season, with a $5 million prize pool for the series, in addition to individual race purses.
Officials with the two organizations said the championship series, which is scheduled to start in 2027, is designed to create a season-long competition that will encourage the best horses in the field to compete against each other repeatedly. Races at Churchill Downs will be broadcast nationally on NBC while races at NYRA tracks, Belmont and Saratoga, will be broadcast on Fox.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Steve Crane over at Maryland Matters
