For the second year in a row and fourth time in the last eight years, there will be no Triple Crown on the line when horses contest the Preakness Stakes, the middle leg of the series.

Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo will not make the trip to Laurel Park, trainer Cherie DeVaux announced Wednesday, and will instead point to the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in June.

DeVaux cited a desire to give the colt a little more of a break after “the race of a lifetime” at Churchill Downs.

“His health, happiness and long-term future will always remain our top priority,” she said in a statement.

Advertise with us

Last year’s winner of the Run for the Roses, Sovereignty, also bypassed the Preakness for the Belmont, which he went on to win in dominant fashion on the way to being named Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards.

The same decision was made for long-shot Derby winners Rich Strike in 2022 and Country House in 2019.

In 2021, Medina Spirit’s win was clouded by a failed post-race drug test. The Bob Baffert-trained colt was allowed to enter Preakness with additional drug testing, which he passed. He finished the race third.

Eventually, in February 2022, Medina Spirit was stripped of his title. The colt who was elevated to first place in the record books, Mandaloun, did not run at Pimlico.

This story will be updated.