In the simplest years, training a race horse is “like putting together a puzzle,” according to Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse.

But training a race horse during the coronavirus pandemic for Triple Crown will be run in a different order, in different time frames and at different distances?

“This year has compiled a puzzle without edges or pictures,” Casse said on Monday. “This is crazy.”

But Casse is going crazy, because while things might look and feel different this year, Triple Crown is still scheduled to happen in full, starting with Belmont Betting on Saturday.

Instead of being the last leg of the Triple Crown in a span of five weeks, it will be the first leg in a span of almost four months. Instead of being the longest race at 1½ miles with two turns, it will run at 1 ¹ / ₈ miles with only one turn – shorter than the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. And the sound of 90,000 fans going wild will be replaced with only the nails beating on the ground and the race call echoing from the empty stands.

“I don’t think there is a question that by the end of 2020, you can make big stars all year round, and Triple Crown is definitely part of that,” said veteran coach Todd Pletcher, whose horse has won two Kentucky. Derby and three Belmont Stakes. “This is a nontraditional Triple Crown series. I don’t think it will take away from achieving a single horse if they are able to win one, two or three legs. This is still a race that is very difficult to win. But that is clearly not the same as trying to do it all in five weeks at three different distances that peak with a mile and a half in Belmont. “

Typically, Triple Crown’s first leg has the largest field – with 19 horses in last year’s Kentucky Derby. This year, it is expected to begin with an eight or nine horse field in the Belmont Bet.

Initially it was expected to include at least one trained Bob Baffert native, but both candidates have since been declared out – first Nadal, then Charlatan, both due to injuries. Another Grade 1 winner, Maxfield, chose to continue Belmont due to reconfiguration and instead increased views of the September September Kentucky Derby.

“I spoke with people three or four weeks ago and said that in many ways, I felt that this year’s Belmont bet would be the Kentucky Derby – the first time the best horses in training would meet each other, the West Coast and the Coast East and in between, “said Jack Knowlton, owner of Tiz the Law’s favorite bet. “Obviously, because of the injuries to Bob’s two horses and now with Maxfield out, there isn’t enough star power that we all expect.”

Instead, the changed schedule and distance have allowed other horses an opportunity they might not get in the typical Triple Crown season.

Dr. The Post, one of Pletcher’s two entries along with Farmington Road, might not be ready for any Triple Crown race if they were run as usual. Casse’s Tap it to Win was not even nominated for the Kentucky 2020 2020, after undergoing surgery in the offseason, and is unlikely to compete in the Belmont Bet if it was not shortened by three distances.

But that’s how the puzzle has been put together in this strange year, and those involved in it don’t complain.

“I’m just happy that we will have Belmont and we will have Preakness – at least I hope we will have Preakness – and Derby,” Casse said. “So whatever the order, I’m fine with that.”