Triple crown horse racing?

Question

how come I never see the same horse that won the derby last year in it again this year or other races etc... Are they only allowed for one year or what?

Answer 1

These are races for three year old horses.  They compete as three year olds.  Horses that compete in the Three races for the Triple Crown go on to race in other races.  They are not Too Old to race.  They just race against horses of the same age. Horses can also race by gender, females against other females and so on.  in other races you can have horses of varying ages running against each other.  I have a TB mare retired race horse and she didn't break her maiden till she was a four year old, and she was runnin against 3 year olds.

Answer 2

Only three-year-olds can run in the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont.  That's why you don't see them in again the following year - they're too old.

Answer 3

[quote] Kmmm-Mostly it's because any horse that's good enough to win one of the triple crown races is retired at the end of his 3 year old season so he does not race the next year. The big exception this year is Curlin who won the Preakness last year but is still racing this year and won the Dubai World Cup in March.[/quote]

Kmmm was totally off.  The only reason that horses do not run again is because as most everyone has said the Triple Crown stakes races are specifically for three year olds.

To know who might be running in next year's Derby, one would want to watch the Juvenile stakes races beginning this fall leading up to the Breeder's Cup.  

Several of the Derby horses this year will go on to run in the Traverse Stakes or the Breeder's Cup Classic.

The Classic is also one race that is Not limited to 3 year olds.

Answer 4

3 year olds only can race in these events! earnings to qualify...

Answer 5

Triple Crown horse racing is only for three year olds, and all horse's have a Jan 1. date.

Answer 6

"it's the chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of chance..." Dan Fogelberg

Only 3 year olds can compete in the Triple Crown. If not retired for breeding they can still, if nominated, compete on Breeders Cup day though

Answer 7

Mostly it's because any horse that's good enough to win one of the triple crown races is retired at the end of his 3 year old season so he does not race the next year.  The big exception this year is Curlin who won the Preakness last year but is still racing this year and won the Dubai World Cup in March.

Another reason is that most of the races that are widely televised are the 3 Triple Crown races, the spring Derby preps, and the Breeders Cup Championships in the fall.  Horses who won the Triple Crown races the year before are not going to be in spring Derby preps or in the 3 Triple Crown races this year because all of those races are solely for 3 year olds.  If the horse ran last year, it's no longer 3 years old and can't run again this year.  Some of the Triple Crown horses stick around to race another season.  You might remember a horse named Lawyer Ron who was pretty good last year.  He was a 4 year old who ran in the Kentucky Derby in 2006 against Barbaro.  The reason you don't see those horses though is because it's not widely televised... you have to know when the horses are racing and intentionally tune in to see it.  A lot of the races are on TVG or HRTV, the 2 horse racing cable channels.  Some of them are on ESPN or ESPN2, but they don't really get advertised so unless you stumble upon them or plan to watch them, you'll probably miss them.  Very rarely is any race broadcast on ordinary network television.

So those are the 2 reasons... (1) Triple Crown race winners are usually retired to breeding as soon as possible and (2) the sport of horse racing sorely lacks publicity.

Rhonda, did I not say later in my answer that the Triple Crown races are limited to 3 year olds?  Try reading my whole answer before you act like a jackass and correct me.  You'll notice that the asker asks not only about the Derby, but "other races."  I was addressing the fact that top 3 year olds do not race in other races as older horses because they're retired right away.  If you read my answer before attacking me, you'd know that I also said:

QUOTE: "Horses who won the Triple Crown races the year before are not going to be in spring Derby preps or in the 3 Triple Crown races this year because all of those races are solely for 3 year olds.  If the horse ran last year, it's no longer 3 years old and can't run again this year."

and since I'm mad at you, I figure I'll also correct your spelling of my name... it's not kmmm... it's kmnmiamisax.  kmn is my initials and most people will refer to me by those 3 letters alone.  I don't mind any sortened version of the full name... it can be kmnmiami or kmnm or whatever...  it's not something that I'd usually correct, but you got me mad by not reading the answer before giving the thumbs down and then "correcting" me in your answer.  I don't think I got to be the top best answerer on this category by believing that 4 year olds can race in the Triple Crown races.

Answer 8

Cindy is right- the Triple Crown races are for 3 year olds only. Sometimes, horses do go on to race in their 4 year old season, but this is not a common thing. Big Brown will likely retire to stud right after the Belmont, because his owners have negotiated a multi million dollar deal for him to stand to his first book of mares next spring. Curlin, who won last year's Preakness, is one of the few older horses you will see around this year. He will run in the Breeder's Cup in the fall, and in a couple of other major stakes before that. After the BC, however, I expect that he will also enter stud, because his owners can make more money breeding him than they can running him- and it's not worth the physical risk and danger to the horse to race him any more.