Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo will not run in next week’s Preakness Stakes

(CNN) — Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo will skip the Preakness, the horse’s team announced on Wednesday.

“The horse just ran the race of his life,” trainer Cherie DeVaux told CNN Sports about the decision minutes before it was announced publicly. “Asking him to race again, we just want to give him the best opportunity for the best outcome.”

It will be the sixth time since 2018, when Justify won the Triple Crown, that the Derby winner has not run in the Preakness, which takes place just two weeks after the Derby.

A year ago trainer Bill Mott elected to withhold Sovereignty and longshot Rich Strike did not run in 2021. In between, Country House – who was named Derby winner after Maximum Security was disqualified – did not compete in the 2019 Preakness. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic caused the Triple Crown races to be reordered and in 2021 Medina Spirit was disqualified because of the use of an anti-inflammatory at the Derby.

DeVaux said they instead will point Golden Tempo toward the Belmont Stakes in June. Should Golden Tempo run there, it will be a homecoming for DeVaux, who grew up in Saratoga Springs, where this year’s Belmont will be held as the Long Island track continues renovations.

The decision to withhold Golden Tempo comes amid bubbling conversations to tweak the Triple Crown race calendar. The Preakness has been staged two weeks after the Derby for the past 70 years, with the Belmont coming three weeks after the Baltimore-based race.

But much like pitchers in baseball who operate on a pitch count in today’s version of the sport, horses simply don’t run like they used to.

The original Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton, not only won all three races in just 32 days; he ran between the Preakness and the Belmont. Golden Tempo had raced just three times prior to winning the Derby; Secretariat competed 10 times.

Not running the Derby winner in the Preakness has hurt the race. Viewership for last year’s race dropped 16%.

That, more than anything, might trigger a change. NBC owns the rights to the Derby and Fox for the Belmont. Rights for the Preakness are up this year, and whoever wins the war might jockey the calendar.