Belmont Stakes 2012: I'll Have Another Won't Save Horse Racing with Win

I'll Have Another will be looking to become the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to win the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes. While it would be a terrific accomplishment and put the colt among the best horses ever, it won't be enough to save horse racing.

The sport as a whole isn't the spectacle it once was, and it probably won't reach its peak level ever again in today's sports climate. Horse racing will always be relegated to lower-tier status, with most fans only tuning in a couple times per year, and its status is even less when a Triple Crown isn't on the line.

A main reason the sport has lost ground since Affirmed's run into history is the popularity of the country's other major leagues. An offseason no longer exists, as fans are craving information about the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL on a daily basis, no matter the time of year.

That's especially true for the NFL. Sports fans are now watching niche events like the Combine, which shows just how much football has started to control the national sports landscape, leaving minor sports like horse racing to pick up the scraps.

I'll Have Another has provided a huge boost for the short term. Everybody likes to see history, so getting a chance to see something that hasn't been accomplished in more than three decades will cause people to care about the Belmont Stakes.

At least for this year. Big Brown, Smarty Jones and Funny Cide, which all entered the third leg of the Triple Crown in the same position as I'll Have Another, provided a similar push for a while.

By the time the first Saturday in May rolls around for the next year's Kentucky Derby, however, any momentum gained from the previous Triple Crown is inevitably lost.

That's the downside of having the sport's three most important races in a five-week span. It's tough to maintain a presence when sports fans have so many other options throughout the year. Aside from the Breeders' Cup, horse racing doesn't have enough marquee events outside of the big three.

So, while the Belmont Stakes will receive a nice boost as I'll Have Another attempts to finish the job, the lasting influence–even if he pulls it off–will be negligible. No single victory, no matter how big, is enough to get horse racing back to prominence.

That doesn't mean horse racing doesn't have a place. It does. It's just not going to become anything more than a minor part of the sports calendar.