There where only three horses that all three races, Cali Chrome, Ride on Curlin. and General A Rod, as for the winner of this race the last time it ran a race and won was at this very track and that was on May 10th... So yeah the “sore loser” as some call him has a point it is cowardly to pick and choose your races only to be the spoiler...
If the NBA was like this and the Heat and the Spurs had to play 20 games in the playoffs and all of a sudden the NBA put in a fresh team and let them play all of the games at their home court playing the tired team and surprise the spurs or the Heat lose well all heck would break loose.....
So then Tonalist chose to race on May 10th and California Chrome chose to race on May 17th
Why is that a problem?
In addition to the cup, the winner took home $800,000. I doubt the only motivation was to be a spoiler.
Again, horses are not in charge of their own destiny and thus, comparing horse-centered events to human is completely pointless, ESPECIALLY team sports. And the TC is completely a construct, and each race is important in and of itself. They do not have to depend upon the others. It is the other way around.
Money and the horse’s health drive where they go. You will never make someone put their horse in jeopardy, or their budget, just to make races you wish they would attempt.