While most people don’t get particularly excited about the Triple Crown Races (Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes) until shortly before the running of the Kentucky Derby, thoroughbred racing enthusiasts get excited long before that. That’s because the process to run in the Triple Crown races begins long before the running of the Kentucky Derby. The process begins with nominating your 3 year old horse to the Triple Crown races. The 2016 Triple Crown nominees were announced this week and there are 368. While 368 nominees sounds like a considerable number, it isn’t if you consider only 20 horses can run in the Kentucky Derby.
The 3 year old thoroughbreds eligible to run in the 2016 Triple Crown Races were born in 2013. In 2013, there were approximately 24,000 thoroughbreds born so the 2016 Triple Crown Nominees represent 1.9% of the 2013 crop of thoroughbreds. Chad Brown, the trainer of our horses has 12 nominees and three of the twelve are our Woodford Racing horses. The three Woodford Racing horses nominated are Butler Field, Catapult and Gulf of Mexico.
Between now and the running of the 2016 Kentucky Derby (May 7), Preakness Stakes (May 21) and Belmont Stakes (June 11) a lot can happen but as the saying goes, you have to be in it to win it and that begins with nominating your horse. With Triple Crown prep races taking place over the next 90 days at various tracks around the country, separating the contenders from the pretenders amongst this year’s 368 nominees will get interesting.
Gulf of Mexico
Butler Field