We sort of knew it was inevitable but still hurts to see it in print.
https://www.wdrb.com/news/kentucky-derby-to-be-postponed-until-september-as-concerns-heighten/article_5e88ecce-6557-11ea-8c64-1bf69c1bc962.html
I hope the Preakness and the Belmont run as usually scheduled and the Derby just trails along behind later.
That’s probably just a pipedream though.
Not the first Saturday in May? Feels apocalyptic, to be honest! They have to work it in somehow – can’t let the oldest continuously running sporting event in the country have a lapse! Of course, then I guess the honors would in two years go to the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, but still I don’t want the Derby to lose that “crown!”
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Hard to read that the first Saturday in May won’t be the ‘usual’ first Saturday in May.
Glad I am low enough on the pay scale that I don’t have to make these decisions. Not easy ones to make, I am sure, even when knowing they are the right decisions.
This hurts. I know it’s safer for everyone but the Kentucky derby and September just don’t belong together in a sentence.
What a interesting year this has been so far…:no:
also never thought I wouldn’t be able to watch the derby because of a cruise (which we are keeping for now) in SEPTEMBER.
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I have often said the only thing I am ever missing the Preakness for is my own funeral. Hope those words don’t become prophetic. Especially this year which is the last year that is guaranteed to be run at Pimlico. Even if they get their plan through to fruition to revamp Pimlico it won’t be even remotely the same with the shortened and rotated track etc.
I’m fine with it - gives these young horses a little more time to mature.
I too am curious how this will affect the horses on tje derby/crown track. If the Preakness and Belmont run as normal, the horses may not be as tried, then to have that much recovery and training time for the shorter derby.
But if they delay the Preakness and belmont in the same manner, the horses would be running under cooler conditions.
then horses having that extra prep time could make for an interesting kind of experiment so to say. Does the extra few months make a difference? Or did it not?
I dont follow racing religiously, but enough to know this could be interesting.
What of the Travers? I realize Churchill doesn’t give a rat’s ass about NYRA tracks and how their schedule is affected, but as of right now the Travers and the Derby would be a week apart.
I guess the horses who don’t make it into the Derby will run at Saratoga.
Preakness postponed till September too: https://www.news10.com/news/kentucky-derby-preakness-stakes-postponed-belmont-stakes-could-follow/
So if the Derby and the Preakness are in September, when is Keeneland’s 5,000 strong September Yearling sale going to be held? 
Lots of shifting things around happening…
it’ll be interesting to see how this whole year plays out.
Not to mention the effect on the Breeders Cup…
