California Chrome Belmont Stakes Update: NYRA New Ruling Allows Horses To Wear Nasal Strip At New York Tracks, Horse Will Race For Triple Crown June 7

California Chrome Belmont Stakes update: The horse that has won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness has been cleared to wear the nasal strip that could have potentially kept the horse out of going for the prestigious Triple Crown.

New York Race Association normally doesn't allow the use of nasal strips even though the other two states in the Triple Crown did. New York State Gaming Commission equine medical director Scott Palmer had an update that he decided that all New York racetracks will officially allow horses to wear the nasal strips, which means that California Chrome has a chance to become the 12th Triple Crown winner and the first since 1978 if it wins the Belmont Stakes.

Trainer Art Sherman, who contacted the stewards on Sunday to make the formal request, had suggested that California Chrome might not race in the Belmont Stakes without the strip, which he wore during victories in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, according to ESPN.com.

"I recommend that the stewards at state-based thoroughbred racetracks discontinue their ban on equine nasal strips," Palmer wrote. "Equine nasal strips do not enhance equine performance nor do they pose a risk to equine health or safety and as such do not need to be regulated.

"While there is research to indicate that equine nasal strips decrease airway resistance in horses and may decrease the amount of bleeding associated with EIPH to some degree, I am unfamiliar with any research indicating that equine nasal strips enable a horse to run faster with nasal strips than without them. In other words, there is no evidence they have a performance enhancing effect."

Some horses, like humans, wear nasal strips to assist breathing. The colt wears the strip only during races, not training.

"I think it opens up his air passage and gives him that little extra oomph that he needs, especially going a mile and a half," Sherman said. "Any time you can have a good air passage, that means a lot for these thoroughbreds."