New Poll, Most Impressive BC Win
I can’t remember the last time I sat in front of the idiot box for 6 hours. The only thing I can say for certain is that it’s a good thing I donated my bank roll this year (more to come on that!). Mind you, this didn’t stop me from losing a little money as I had a little bit sitting around in my twinspires account… not any more!
Michael has the right idea, there’s always tomorrow to take up the arguments, debates, head scratching and opining (such as, can Swifty and I employ an Enron-like scheme to purchase Stardom Bound with credit based on projected future earnings?).
In the meantime, who did you think had the most impressive Breeders’ Cup win? The winner of last year’s poll was Midnight Lute, who is not only up for the honors again, but is the only repeat winner from last year.
As for the last poll, 28 of you said your biggest issue with the BC was the surface, 23 said it was all of the above, 22 said it was Filly Friday, 14 of you said it was the name change, 11 of you said it was the 2 day format and 9 of you said it was saddle cloth color. In hindsight, perhaps I should have added it an option to vote for “it’s too damn hard to handicap 14 races in 2 days”!
As always, thanks for participating!
Posted by dana on Oct 25 2008
Filed Under: Poll, Stardom Bound, 2008, Midnight Lute, Rescue, Breeders' Cup, Retirement
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Bottom line, this BC was a disaster. Let’s see how many East Coast horses show up next year. I’m guessing between 3-5 and they will all be turf horses.
I wonder how this is going to affect the Breeding Industry. The next time (after 2009) Santa Anita is announced as the site of the Breeder’s Cup, who is going to pay big money for the traditional big dirt sire yearling’s?
I have been following the sport since I was about 7 or 8 and now I am 30. I tried to really get into this Breeder’s Cup but it was lacking. I honestly could say that I have seen only 15 of the horses on both cards either race in person or on television. The rest of the horses I did’t really know. I knew the races that they won but i didn’t literally see them do it. Bottom line the rooting interest (outside of Curlin and Ginger Punch) wasn’t there for me. Imagine how an outsider, with no racing knowledge, would view the mish mosh known as the Breeder’s Cup.
We all watched Curlin run in the North American Arc De Triumph. We all knew he was a great dirt horse, well now we know he is a “good” turf horse. Good thing Big Brown didn’t show up…It would have made it worse. By the way, if this is the future of Horse Racing lets just go to an all TURF surface across America. This synthetic stuff is a joke. The Classic was the real Turf Championship and the Breeder’s Cup Turf was effectively turned into a Grade II race today. Great Job Breeder’s Cup.
By the way, ESPN needs to be dumped. In 2005, when the contract was signed they promised the world to the Breeder’s Cup. They have seriously fallen short. NBC provided drama. ESPN gives you the “race of the week” coverage multiplied by 6 hours. If anyone has a chance check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adFhbrdX4Kc on Youtube.com. This is the story as told by NBC in 2001 of the late owner of Tiznow. This type of story telling was common place in their coverage. They knew how to deliver the goods. Another sore point with the Breeder’s Cup. How the heck did Tom Durkin have a contract with NBC and not with the Breeder’s Cup? I love when ESPN shows the great races of the past they only use Durkin’s dramatic calls and not Denman’s. I can’t wait for Belmont to get the BC again because from what I understand, ESPN could use the hosting track’s regular announcer (ie. Belmont Stakes) in their coverage.
Finally, the new poll should be “Do the Jackson’s go to the Japan Cup Dirt and openly challenge the Europeans to follow him there or just retire Curlin?” He is after all, half way to Japan already.
Might I add on to what wise Jason said?
I don’t recall a single pace maker surviving in the Breeders’ Cup on Pro-Ride this weekend. Midshipman siezed his lead earlier than most and held with the great Gomez aboard, but this event did not reward traditional American dirt speed in any way. When grass milers from Europe are winning our “dirt” 1 1/4-mile Classic, something has gone wrong.
As long as we run on these surfaces (I’ll admit the Hollywood Cushion track does not always retard front-runners), it doesn’t pay to be fast. Yes, the times were all torrid (1:19 for seven furlongs!!!!), but they were just a lot of phony baloney.
A runner-up in a mile turf race at Woodbine would not - and should not - be the runaway winner of a BC dirt sprint.
Adapt, that’s what everyone tells you to do, but I applaud Nick Zito for staying home like a grump. Why humiliate the brilliant Commentator?
There are too many BC divisions, and the problem is exacerbated by Pro-Ride. Trainers with turf horses that would get their asses kicked on dirt, now suddenly can shop the myriad spots — turf mile, “dirt” (ha!) Pro-Ride Mile, Turf, Pro-Ride Classic, seven-furlong filly and mare Pro-Ride sprint, marathon …
The options are endless, and the result? A second-rate Albertus Maximus winning a Breeders’ Cup race.
Finally, the artificial surfaces have thrown the American game into an identity crisis. Our horses, finally being weaned, I assume, from their drug regimens, were teetering on the stage of world class to begin with; now, however, we’re split on what an American race horse is. The division of synthetic runners and dirt runners further muddies any conclusions we might want to make about who is the best of the best.
We have effectively divided the union via surface civil war.
So, not only have we watered down the championshp product by creating too many Breeders’ Cup races, we now in some years reward those races to turf/poly horses and in other years set up those exact same races for the old dirt gang. No wonder we can’t come to our senses and take action to halt the impending climate crisis; we can’t even get horse racing right. — John S.
Jason, you mispelled your own last name. It’s MorOn. But this is for Dana. Feeling a bit retarded yourself this morning? Like you, I too am an occasional racing scribe. And like you, I too had reservations about the new format, the plastics, etc. The difference is I’m older, and learned years ago never to raise questions for which I didn’t already know the answers. Turns out after all your childish rants and calls for boycotts, you spent the entire 6 hours glued to the Cup, account number in hand. Well, who didn’t know that! Here’s the bottom line my young lady scribe, the same bottom line about which you were so staggeringly clueless in the days and weeks leading up to the Cup: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE ATHLETE. If the horse is in your blood … in your soul … in fact they could run the Cup on broken glass in a corn field in Iowa, and you’d still be spellbound. It was spectacular, and you owe your readers, and the game, an apology. I mean, assuming your journalistic credibility means more to you than … say … Hank Goldberg!
Jason - I tried to contact you see if I could post your comment as a guest post but your mailbox is full. Since the replies have started to roll in, let the games begin!
John - both you and Jason make great points… more on those later!
O-T-R - thanks for your concern, but in fact I don’t at all feel retarded this morning and am not entirely sure why you think I would. I stand by everything I wrote about the BC. Not that I want to dignify your childish attack on me, but in case you missed it, the reason I decided to not watch & wager on Saturday was, and I quote, “they STILL aren’t listening to their existing, and rapidly dwindling, customers”.
Not too long after that I had the good fortune to speak at length to an exec at the BC about all the issues that fans have been raising. Since the conversation was productive & a genuine effort to reach out to fans + he invited me to the BC offices in a few weeks to discuss it further with him, I decided to relax my previous position and watch and possibly wager a little… which is exactly what I did.
What strikes me the most about this entire long turn of events is the animosity shown by some when one isn’t willing to just be a cheerleader and eat every shit sandwich handed to them on a plate. You don’t see me bashing anyone because they were jazzed about the BC as is… more power to them! It’s precisely the love the athletes and the game that drives people to question choices and want to be included in dialog, particularly when they’re putting the driving force of the machine through the windows.
And, O-T-R of central jersey with a fake, aptly named email address, don’t come back until you can comment in your name as I’m banning your fake anon name. Let’s see if you’re willing to be such a name caller in your own name. But hey, thanks for calling me young!
You guys are tough!
The value of a horse is diminished by a loss. That is our fault not a tracks surface. The best horse reigned supreme on a given day, on a given track, on a given surface. The Breeder’s Cup should be known as the Solitary Crown.
Curlin has taken risks which we all know what they are. Running as a four year old on different surfaces, varying weather, in different latitudes, all Grade 1’s. His biggest risk being at the end of a year which may or may not be over. Curlin made the Classic classic, “Curlin vs the World!”
Ravens Pass (Henry and Tiago) are all the better for Curlin taking risks and so am I.
amen, Dana