The Preakness?

Question

What is the minimum number of entrants for a Triple Crown race?

After the race on Saturday the Preakness should be a formality for this beast.

That raises the question: Who is going to enter against him just to get your doors blown off and risk potential injury in the process???

This Brown thing has to be 3-5 in that race.

Answer 1

No doubt you will have horses running for 2nd place money.

I don't necessarily think Big Brown is a mortal lock either.  Sure he'll be odds on, but plenty of odds on favorites have gone down in flames as the Triple Crown goes along.

Answer 2

why would it be a formaility?  big brown has to win all 3 races to get the triple crown and that's a really tough thing to do.  it wasn't big browns fault that eight belles broke her ankles

Answer 3

Probably only 3. As for the Preakness being a formality, don't be so quick to dismiss it. It is the shortest of the 3 races, yes, but the Pimlico track presents some unique challenges of its own, such as having steep, banked turns. Neither Churchill Downs nor Belmont have this feature. The Preakness is also a sixteenth of a mile shorter than the Derby, and there has been many a horse who got fooled by the shorter distance and made his move too soon, only to find that there was nothing left at the end.

One of your statements doesn't make sense- the Triple Crown is the name of the series of three races- the Derby, Preakness, and the Belmont, and it is not the longest race. The BELMONT stakes is the longest race of that particular series, at a mile and a half. You are probably right in saying that Big Brown is going to face heavy challenges in that race. I am sure that's going to be the case. As to whether or not he can win the Triple- I'd say that's still an open question. I think there are still lots of potential contenders for both the Preakness and the Belmont which haven't really emerged yet. One of the problems with the Derby, in fact, is that there are too many entries in that race, and winning it is as much a matter of avoiding getting caught in traffic as it is skill and having the speed and stamina to do it. There were way too many horses which got caught in traffic or boxed in on Saturday- and Big Brown just happened to be lucky enough to avoid this and save enough ground to win. Due to limits on entries in the other two races, I don't believe we will see that happen again this year- at least I hope not.

Time will tell....

Answer 4

I'm not sure of the minimum for all 3 races but when Man O War ran in the Belmont he only had one challenger.

On edit:  I don't know how they split up the purse with only 1 challenger.  But it was in 1920 so it was probably only a few bucks anyway.  His total winnings in 21 starts was $249,465.

Answer 5

Just because a horse wins the derby doesn't mean it is a sure thing for the rest of the triple crown.  Think of Giacomo, the 2005 longshot winner.  He finished 3rd in the Preakness and only 7th in the Belmont.  

What about Smarty Jones in 2004?  He was the first undefeated horse since Seattle Slew in 1977 to win the Kentucky Derby.  Then he blew away the competition in the Preakness by 11 and 1/2 lengths for the win.  But he suffered a crushing blow when he finished 2nd to the 32-1 unheard of longshot Birdstone.  

In fact only 11 horses in the 125+ history of the triple crown have taken all three....and none have won all three since Affirmed in 1978 with jockey Steven Cauthen.

Yeah Big Brown is a magnificent horse and it was most definately a fantastic finish in the Derby (in light of the Eight Belles tradegy).  But he is a largely untest animal and the high stakes races are anyones game. Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

Answer 6

Given that Big Brown has only raced 4 times in his career, racing on only 2 weeks notice may be his biggest challenge. As for the minimum, the race will go off even if it only has one entrant. As it stands right now, there appears to be possibly as many as 8 contenders.

Answer 7

Horse's in the Derby get paid thru the tenth I believe! in a regular race it's 4 place

Big Brown is a nice horse  I never told any one he would win or would not !!

Funny thing is  every one that picked their horse's and lost  have not been responding ?

They might get a owner that will pay extra to have his horse run in it

it's happened before

the number of horses are up to the stewards they can run the race in two divisions , if they have to many

But who knows what will happen REALLY

No one really know till race day

Also Every trainer will enter their horses 72 hours in advance ,

if BIG BROWN GOES SORE HE CAN starcth