Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo is not running in the Preakness

[Bibliovore]

8. There's always earlier, at least in theory

The Kentucky Derby is at Churchill Downs in Louisville, which I think generally has its first races of the year in late April (this year it was a week before the Derby; I don't know how usual that is). April weather there averages in the 60s at the start of the month and the 70s by the end; this year's Derby Day had a high of 56, and two years ago it was 83. Weather can never be guaranteed, of course, but the Derby could likely safely back up two or three weeks, and the Preakness one, to leave better windows between the races.

Getting the racing world to agree to that might be another matter. Beyond the tracks' likely unwillingness to change their historic calendars, though they'd likely prefer that to better-timed races supplanting the Triple Crown, backing them up would mean slightly younger horses with less training time (the incredible Man o' War was not run in the Derby because his owner felt strongly that "a soft-boned 3-year-old should not have to run 1¼ miles in early May" ), and date changes would also mess with what are considered the usual "prep races" for the Derby, themselves as historically scheduled as the crown's three.