Instead of restructuring,why not move it back in the calendar say a month or so?
(This would help Belmont, as their big racing day would fall later in the meet).

Another problem, the 3 jewels of the crown are not equally weighted in terms of purses and prestige. A few horses each year who could be reaching a peak at Preakness time are sacrificed to Derby madness.

My personal 06 Derby madness award goes to the usually savvy John Ward, who drove Strong Contender (who looked mediocre at Belmont yesterday) up and down the interstate looking for those graded earnings. Honorable mention goes to the Lael Stable people,who probably should have held Showing Up out of the Derby and raced in the Preakness (especially since they already had a strong Derby contender).

As Jimbo and others have pointed out, there have been some Triple Crown near misses recently. Alex. Smarty. Charismatic. A difficult grind, yes; impossible, no.

Because of the emphasis breeders put on the Triple Crown races, economics dictates that almost any colt who wins even ONE of these races has little else to prove and will NOT race as a 4YO.

A very tough thing to watch yesterday, especially since (a) Barbaro looked so good training up to the race and (b) there was relatively little attrition among the ranks of 3YOs between the BC Juvenile and yesterday.

Drugs? A huge issue in racing (and it looks like the harness guys are starting to get it) but IMO not an issue in Barbaro's breakdown.

Should Barbaro have been scratched or at least examined after he broke through the gate? Of the track vet, the starter and the jock, if anything was amiss, I would say it is something that Prado would have known before anyone else.