New Kentucky-New York series could sink the Triple Crown

September's Championship Race hands 3-year-olds a rare late-season chance to run against their own generation before meeting older horses in season-ending events like the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Longer spacing also answers a long-standing complaint inside the industry that the Triple Crown's timeline, especially the two-week turnaround from the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness, demands too much of a horse. The argument has gained force in recent years as Derby winners, including Golden Tempo this year, skipped the Preakness to train straight for the Belmont.

Facilities are tangled in the same calendar. Belmont Park and Pimlico Race Course, the Preakness's home, have both been demolished. A rebuilt Belmont Park is set to open this fall, and Pimlico will follow once its new construction is done. In the meantime the Belmont Stakes has run at Saratoga, and officials cut the distance from 1 1/2 miles to 1 1/4 miles. The Preakness has moved to Laurel Park.

What the series does in practice is pull the season's biggest races into one orbit run by two operators. The championship consolidates the richest 3-year-old races of the season under Churchill Downs and NYRA, from the Derby through the September finale. The Preakness, without a facility of its own until Pimlico's rebuild and without a place in the new championship, keeps its historic slot on the calendar.

The Triple Crown's hold on the sport has been built on scarcity. Sir Barton in 1919 is recognized as the first winner, although the idea of linking the three races was not widely promoted until the 1930s. Thirteen horses have earned the crown since. The most recent was Justify in 2018.