(Edited Triple Crown Productions press release)
Nominations for the 2009 Triple Crown of racing – the 135th Kentucky Derby (gr. I), 134th Preakness Stakes (gr. I) and 141st Belmont Stakes (gr. I) – are being taken from horsemen with promising for 3-year-olds.
Early nominations – at $600 per horse – for the races, which start with the Kentucky Derby May 2, close Jan. 24. Nominations can be made through the mail and by telephone at (800) 928-3372, (502) 636-4405, or (502) 636-4470 (the Churchill Downs racing office. They all can be submitted at any racetrack’s racing office, online at www.thetriplecrownchallenge.com, or in person with representatives from Triple Crown Productions.
Representatives will be in Southern California, Florida and Louisiana, where the bulk of prospective Triple Crown trainees are stabled during the winter months, beginning Jan. 14.
Gathering nominations at Florida racing and training venues will be Edward P. Seigenfeld, executive vice president of Triple Crown Productions; Don Richardson, senior vice president, racing, for Churchill Downs; P.J. Campo, vice president of racing for the New York Racing Association; and Coley Blind, stakes coordinator for the Maryland Jockey Club. Ben Huffman, director of racing and racing secretary at Churchill Downs, will be taking nominations at Fair Grounds in Louisiana. Gene Williams, media coordinator for Triple Crown Productions, and Daniel Smith, longtime media director for Del Mar, will be at Southern California sites.
A late-nomination period, when $6,000 is required to make a 3-year-old eligible for the classics, runs from Jan. 24 to March 28.
