A few ramblings:

3yo's typically run 2 to 3 prep races to make it to the Derby.

And two entities, who are not in current (or apparent) danger, decided to make a SIX-race series that includes the Derby while ignoring the (cratering) ecosystem of the racing industry, specifically all the other tracks that have premier and non-premier 3yo stakes.

The odds of any modern horse (3yo) running in 2 preps and all SIX races . . . nil. I am not against an incentive-based TC and even told friends it needs to happen while wandering the Hall of Fame on Thursday when we passed the VISA TC Series Trophy from long ago. Or even an incentive-based series that would allow the Preakness to still be a part of the TC. But six races BESIDES the Preakness? 8 races from January to September in 2027. . . Nah, these guys can't be serious after Bill and Cherie wouldn't run GT and Sovereignty more than a handful of times a year.

Preakness being an $85 million toy of interest for CD a few months ago and now discarded as trash shows their disdain for the racing industry once again. If Bill Mott said no one talks about the Preakness, I wonder if they are talking about the still to be named September stakes at CD???

I am all for ideas and change. But these idiots can't even see to combine the Curlin Stakes and the Jim Dandy after the field sizes are tiny for several years now. Now they invent a 6 race series beyond the Derby preps? And reportedly Maryland was blindsided by this per Dan Illman. Do they actually want the game to fall apart sooner than later??? I guess so.

The industry needs to accomplish TWO major tasks or the contraction and decline will continue at a rapid pace:

1. Increase FOAL Crops Immediately (better lobby for some enormous tax incentives for breeders like the 1980s);
2. Increase RETAIL HANDLE Immediately (better lobby for tax changes, better teach people how to win and quit allowing certain folks beyond significant advantages)