On their face, they would seem as far apart on the sporting spectrum as tiddlywinks and shot put.
On the one end sits college football, the billion-dollar industry that commands attention from August until January. On the other is horse racing, the niche sport that owns a five-week blip of the calendar.
And yet, besieged by the same afflictions of greed, self-interest and a comical inability to work together, horse racing is doing its damndest to similarly mess up its very good thing.
Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, announced Wednesday that the Preakness would be moving from its traditional-third-Saturday-in-May date to the fourth Sunday of the month.
Taken alone, it seems like a good idea. For years, horsemen and horsewomen have argued that the traditional running of the Triple Crown’s second leg, a mere two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, no longer suited today’s equine athletes. Three of the last five Derby winners have bypassed the Baltimore-based race, putting the Triple Crown quest to rest before it even got started.
