Two of the three Triple Crown races will soon be owned by one entity.
The owner of the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs Incorporated, has entered an agreement to buy the rights to the Preakness Stakes and the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for $85 million, CBS Sports reported.
The sale is expected to close later this year, The Courier Journal reported.
The group will now manage the rights for both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, leaving the final race of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, on its own.
The Kentucky Derby is the first race, run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 2 this year.
The Preakness Stakes typically runs two weeks after the Derby, but several horses in the Derby skip the Preakness because of the quick turnaround, CBS Sports reported. This year, the race will run on May 16 at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland, as the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore undergoes renovations.
The final race, the Belmont Stakes, will take place on June 6 and will be held at Saratoga Race Course amid renovations at its home, Belmont Park.
The other race in the deal, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, is for 3-year-old fillies and occurs the day before the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course, The Courier Journal reported.
Churchill Downs Incorporated will license the intellectual property rights needed to run the race to the State of Maryland for an annual fee, the newspaper reported.
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