Bet on Journalism

Journalism took a devastating loss Saturday. My pocket book did, too.
Unfortunately, Journalism couldn’t outrun Sovereignty in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes in the final leg of horse racing’s triple crown. 
Sovereignty won two of those triple crown races, including last month’s Kentucky Derby. Journalism was victorious in the third leg, the Preakness, but was runner-up to Sovereignty in the other two marquee events. 
The pay window giveth and also taketh away. 
My wagering habits aside, it provides an all-time “what if” possibility. Sovereignty didn’t run in the Preakness and was ultimately denied the chance to join the rarest air in sports. 
Rather than put Sovereignty through a quick two-week turnaround, trainer Bill Mott instead opted to skip the Preakness and spend more time preparing for Saturday’s race. There’s no way to be sure if Sovereignty also would have won at the Preakness, or still would have won at Belmont if he had another race on his legs.
What if?
Sovereignty isn’t the first Kentucky Derby winner to skip the Preakness, but he is the first horse to win both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes without competing in the Preakness, leaving us fans in quite the predicament.
It’s usually hotly debated each year and now even more so. Does the triple crown need changed? More time in between races? It’s three races over five weeks the true test of a champion. 
I enjoy the difficulty of the triple crown. I relish the fact that there isn’t a triple crown winner every year. 
There’s only been 13 triple crown winners, the first of which dates back to 1919. I’ve only seen two in my lifetime, American Pharaoh in 2015 and Justified in 2018. 
That’s the draw. That is what makes sports worth tuning in for. It’s not who will do it. Will it even happen? Before that, 37 years passed between triple crown winners when Affirmed won in 1978. 
The rarified air is what makes the triple crown special. Having a horse potentially win it every year would diminish that and frankly, not make it as interesting. 
Not only that, but if 13 horses of a previous lifetime could pull off the feat in the time allotted, it can never have the same amount of prestige again with a different schedule. 
It’s a true test of greatness. 
I’ve always been a fan of horse racing. The adrenaline rush of those two minutes over and over again is unmatched by anything else in sports. 
This is probably the latest in another shift in my life of becoming the “old guy yells at clouds,” meme but tradition has to stand for something. 
Also, always bet on Journalism. It’s the right thing to do. 
RICHARD RHODEN can be reached at sports@hamilton.net.