Churchill Downs Incorporated, the parent company of the racetrack home to the Kentucky Derby, announced it has reached an agreement for the purchase of the intellectual property (IP) rights to the Preakness Stakes less than two weeks before the 152nd edition of the Run for the Roses.
The $85,000,000 deal, which also includes the Black Eyed Susan Stakes for fillies, fuels speculation about future reform of the Triple Crown races in America. This move comes in a season when two of the three marquee events where top three-year-old thoroughbreds compete on dirt take place away from their traditional homes.
Due to renovation work at Pimlico in Baltimore, the 2026 Preakness switches to fellow Maryland track Laurel Park on May 16 as a one-off. Longstanding improvements to Belmont Park aren’t yet complete, meanwhile, so the Belmont Stakes on June 6 remains Upstate and outside New York City at Saratoga Race Course for a third consecutive year.
Only five horses since 1948 have been Triple Crown winners with Secretariat (1973) and American Pharoah (2015) the most enduring. Justify (2018) was the last equine star to complete this feat. The short turnaround time of just two weeks between the Kentucky Derby and Preakness has always been an issue in modern times.
Churchill Downs Incorporated Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Preakness Intellectual Property Rights
Read more: https://t.co/wtjs9KJxxp pic.twitter.com/DRAQWbSdYz
— Preakness Stakes (@PreaknessStakes) April 21, 2026
That perhaps explains when only seven horses since the end of the Second World War have completed the Triple Crown. Churchill Downs’ purchase of the Preakness IP should give them more control over when the second leg of the series takes place.
Last year’s Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty opted to skip the Preakness in favor of arriving fresh for the Belmont. In his absence, the Churchill Downs second Journalism landed the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
Triple Crown Reform Now a Distinct Possibility
When the two horses met again at Saratoga in the Belmont, Sovereignty confirmed the Kentucky Derby result by beating Journalism again. Once they complete the purchase of a controlling stake in the Preakness, Churchill Downs may then be able to create a different program for the Triple Crown that perhaps spaces out this series of prestigious races more evenly.
That would still require cooperation from the New York Racing Association (NYRA), the power behind the Belmont, however. Their third and final leg of the Triple Crown currently takes place three weeks after the Preakness, meaning the whole the series happens over five weeks. Both Churchill Downs and the NYRA have been willing to move valuable races in the past, however.
The Arlington Million switching from a now defunct racetrack in suburban Chicago to Colonial Downs in Virginia in 2023 is just one prominent example of Churchill Downs flexing its muscle. Belmont Park closing for $450,000,000 renovations meant their entire annual race program moving to other NYRA tracks Saratoga and Aqueduct for three seasons, meanwhile.
Any potential shake-up of the Triple Crown won’t impact this year’s series, although Kentucky Derby racebooks may see heightened interest in betting on it. If the NYRA combined with Churchill Downs to create three-week breaks between each leg, then they would only delay the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival and its headline race by a week.
This could work well as part of the wider international horse racing calendar. At the moment, the Belmont card often takes place on the same day as the Epsom Derby. That is the first Saturday in June. If the NYRA moved it back seven days, then it would slot in just before the beginning of Royal Ascot across the pond in the UK.
Black Eyed Susan Stakes Could Also Benefit
Three-year-old fillies face the same scheduling problem to the boys in springtime. Their program of events means the best females on dirt prioritize the Kentucky Oaks and Acorn Stakes, rather than the Black Eyed Susan. This chief supporting race of the Preakness meet only has Grade II status and a $300,000 purse.
It simply isn’t on some fillies’ radar after running for $1,500,000 at Churchill Downs, then $500,000 in the Acorn. Even spacing between Churchill Downs, the big meet in Maryland and New York’s Belmont Festival, and a prize money boost, could help incentivize attempts at the rarely tried Fillies’ Triple Crown. Only Davona Dale has won the Kentucky Oaks, Black Eyed Susan and Acorn Stakes in 1979.
Whatever happens with Churchill Downs acquiring the rights to the Preakness and that fillies only race, 2027 promises to be a big year for thoroughbred horse racing in New York City. Belmont Park, which could reopen in the fall of 2026, is due to the host Breeders’ Cup bringing the World Championships to The Big Apple for the first time since 2005.
Laurel Park and Aqueduct Racetrack are both set to close their doors this season, meanwhile. Their programs move to Pimlico and Belmont Park, respectively, when those courses reopen. What’s clear is thoroughbred horse racing on the East Coast of America will have lots of changes in the coming months and year, so watch this space.
