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Originally Posted by King Glorious
Allowing more horses to return and run in peak condition would make the series less about survival of the fittest and more about showing who is the actual best.
Or maybe I'm wrong.
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The purpose of classic races is to identify those individuals that have the traits necessary to become prized breeding animals (whether or not the actual horses become potent producers is another issue althogether). Several other prestigious races have been altered as a result in the change in the Thoroughbred (well that and the Breeder's Cup). The Triple Crown is pretty much the last bastion (ignoring turf racing--and the new Marathon division) of durability and stamina.
Taking that away by shortening the distance and increasing the spacing, allows brilliant, yet unsound horses to "become" Triple Crown" winners and thus sought-after breeding prospects. That would only hasten the decline in the breed of the very traits that the Triple Crown should be promoting. And what happens when suddenly the horses can't even stay 9f? Is the Triple Crown gonna be made up of extended sprints?
Maybe in the end the Triple Crown races will go the way of archaic stakes like the San Juan Capistrano (I think the Belmont Stakes is only a few steps away from that really), but personally, I'd much rather have a Grade 3 Kentucky Derby at 10f than I would a Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at 7f.