Churchill Downs and New York Racing Association announce 6-race championship series

Churchill Downs and the New York Racing Association unveiled a new 6-race championship series on Aug. 4, setting a multi-track slate that is designed to determine a seasonal champion through a points-based format. The announcement, made by the two racing organizations, was reported in Louisville Public Media as part of a broader effort to link major spring and summer Thoroughbred racing into one championship race for owners and trainers.

According to the report, the series includes two legs of the sport’s Triple Crown. The organizers said the configuration will not include the Preakness Stakes, which is staged in Maryland earlier in the spring racing calendar. The exclusion changes how fans and participants experience the Triple Crown sequence, concentrating the championship series around other Triple Crown events.

The two organizations framed the series as a championship road that spans multiple races, with the stated aim of creating continuity across tracks and weeks rather than treating marquee events as separate, one-off milestones. Churchill Downs, which operates in Kentucky and hosts the Kentucky Derby, is central to the plan, and the New York Racing Association brings complementary major-race weight from its tracks.

While the report establishes the overall structure of a six-race championship and confirms the Triple Crown inclusion parameters, it does not provide in the summary details the specific six race names, the points system mechanics, or the full schedule dates. Those elements are expected to be part of the organizations’ published series documentation and race-condition releases following the unveiling.

The championship series is likely to have direct operational impacts on racing calendars, entries, and preparation timelines for barns that plan their seasons around points opportunities. It can also affect fan planning and local tourism patterns around the Kentucky venue date(s), since Churchill Downs typically draws large crowds and associated economic activity beyond the track itself during major meetings.

For participants, the change means trainers and owners may face an altered strategic calculus when deciding which races to target in the weeks surrounding the Triple Crown. For bettors, a points-linked championship can also influence wagering attention across the season, even when a given race is not itself a Triple Crown leg.

Churchill Downs and NYRA have not yet been described in the report as providing additional policy details beyond the core outline. As the series moves from announcement to implementation, the next steps are expected to include release of the complete race list, dates, and the championship eligibility and scoring rules.