The three Triple Crown races were won by three different horses, each of whom won another major Grade 1 race earlier in the year. Their similar résumés through the first six months of the year mean that Creator, Exaggerator, and Nyquist all seemingly will go into the second half of the year with an equal chance to wrest the title as champion 3-year-old male, unlike last year, when that title and Horse of the Year were signed, sealed, and delivered as soon as American Pharoah swept the Triple Crown.Races like the Haskell, Jim Dandy, and Travers, plus major races in the fall against older horses – like the Breeders’ Cup Classic – could prove pivotal in determining the division’s champion.It is Nyquist, though, who likely retains the slight edge at this point. He won the biggest race of the division, the Kentucky Derby, beating both Exaggerator and Creator. In head-to-head meetings this year, he is 2-1 against Exaggerator – including a win in the San Vicente Stakes and a loss in the Preakness – and 1-0 against Creator.Exaggerator and Creator have split their head-to-head meetings, with Exaggerator finishing in front of Creator in the Derby and Creator defeating Exaggerator on Saturday in the Belmont Stakes.Nyquist, owned by Paul and Zillah Reddam, was last year’s champion 2-year-old male, his five victories including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He was unbeaten through the Derby, suffering his first loss when a gallant third in the Preakness. He took ill after the Preakness, forcing him to skip the Belmont, and is back home at Santa Anita, where trainer Doug O’Neill said Nyquist is almost set to resume timed workouts in preparation for his next start.“He should work this weekend,” O’Neill said Monday from Santa Anita. “We’ll see his energy level, where he’s at, get together with Team Reddam, huddle up, and come up with a plan.”O’Neill said he was looking at races at “Del Mar, Monmouth, Saratoga, and Parx” as “the spots for us.”“Those are our main areas of focus right now,” O’Neill said.All have their pros and cons. At Del Mar, unless Nyquist was to move to turf to stay in the 3-year-old division, he would have to run against older horses in dirt races like the Grade 2, $200,000 San Diego Handicap on July 23 and Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 20. The waters will be deep. California Chrome is slated for both races, while Beholder is being pointed to a title defense in the Pacific Classic.All the other potential races would involve travel to the East Coast but would keep Nyquist against fellow 3-year-olds. Monmouth’s major race for the division is the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell on July 31. Saratoga has the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy on July 30, and both the Jim Dandy and Haskell are often used as the last start before the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers at Saratoga, to be run Aug. 27.Parx offers the Grade 2, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 24, and that could be a tempting option for 3-year-olds who want to avoid elders until they must face them in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5 at Santa Anita.If Nyquist goes to the Travers, that could set up a compelling matchup between the three Triple Crown race winners, as both Exaggerator and Creator have the Travers as their main goal of the summer.Exaggerator was based at Santa Anita during the winter, but trainer Keith Desormeaux will keep a small string in New York through the summer, and Exaggerator is remaining there with Desormeaux’s assistant, Julie Clark.“The 3-year-old racing is so lucrative around here,” Desormeaux said at his Belmont Park barn on Sunday. “We’ll end up back in California around Breeders’ Cup time.”Creator headed to Kentucky on Monday for some freshening at WinStar Farm, his majority owner. His trainer, Steve Asmussen, has his main barn in Kentucky but has a string in New York, so he’d have the option with Creator of training at Churchill Downs and then shipping to Saratoga for racing – similar to what he did for the Belmont – or keeping Creator at Saratoga for the summer.Creator last year at age 2 was deemed too immature for the “Saratoga fray,” as WinStar chief executive Elliott Walden referred to it Saturday night in a postrace press conference. But because of the go-slow approach Asmussen took with Creator last year, he has been able to mature on his own time, and with a classic win to go along with the Arkansas Derby, Creator is clearly on the improve. He is part of an exciting, competitive crop of 3-year-olds from whom more will be heard, and soon.