What changes can realistically be made to the Triple Crown without ruining its credibility

In an article Bill Finley wrote in the Thoroughbred Daily News on August 13, 2023 that suggested The New York Racing Association (NYRA) needed to cave into what The Stronach Group wants to do by moving The Preakness Stakes back two weeks to four weeks after the Derby (in what some are now looking at TSG head Belinda Stronach looking solely at TSG/ 1/ST Racing’s bottom line) because The Preakness in particular has suffered not getting horses back two weeks after the Derby as many trainers no longer want to races their horses three times in five weeks, in no small part (in my opinion) because of how the breed of horses have deteriorated going back to The Tax Reform Act of 1986 that led to the end of tax shelters for horses that led many “class” (breed-to-race) outfits to leave the sport in droves while others came in looking for the quick buck, causing horses to not be nearly as robust as they were 40 years ago.

While it’s understandable why there is such a sentiment, that is NOT how you fix this problem:

Moving the Preakness and Belmont back one week EACH to where the Belmont is six weeks after the Derby IS acceptable because there were years prior to 1963 where the Belmont was six weeks after the Derby, including 1948 when Citation not only won the Triple Crown, but actually won the Jersey Derby at Garden State Park in between the Preakness and Belmont. So that the Preakness would always in this scenario be on Memorial Day weekend and the Belmont on Father’s Day weekend, Churchill would need to agree to a minor change in protocol where the Kentucky Oaks is ALWAYS on the first FRIDAY in May with the Derby a day later, eliminating the years where when the Triple Crown races are on their earliest possible dates, Memorial Day is May 31, its latest possible date, meaning in those years the Derby is May 8, the second Saturday in May.

Forcing NYRA to move the Belmont to past Father’s Day weekend would completely mess up NYRA’s entire stakes schedule AND the major three year old race schedule that follows the TC Races, not to mention those races being lost in the international sports calendar.

From there, the TC tracks need to agree to put together a new $10 Million bonus pool that would ONLY be for horses who race in ALL THREE LEGS. This would have a 10-7-4-2-1 point system with:

$6 Million to the top points earner who races in all three legs
$2 Million to second
$1 Million to third
$600,000 to fourth
$300,000 to fifth
$100,000 to sixth

As I would do this (new addition to what I wrote before on this), any horse who wins the Triple Crown gets an additional $10 Million bonus on top of the $6 Million for being the top points earner.

This would keep horses in the TC races as the reality would be, the bonus pool for racing in all three TC races would make it too tempting to pass up.