They could put in an earnings rule for the Preakness and Belmont. Something like "preference given to horses with $0 earned in any race. Second preference given to maiden winners only. Any winners of races other than maiden or maiden claiming races, not eligible." Something like that would be perfect.
Look, you don't want to give it away. You want to make them earn it. Affirmed had to beat Alydar three times. Sunday Silence would have had to beat Easy Goer three times. Alysheba over Bet Twice three times. I think ideally, you'd want to believe that at some point in the three races, a TC winner would have had to beat the best challenger out there. He didn't get that chance in the Derby.
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The real horses of the year (1986-2020)
Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine
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