Comments on: How to Fix the Breeders’ Cup

By: 30,000 Foot Look at the Breeders' Cup |

30,000 Foot Look at the Breeders' Cup | — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:02:41 +0000

[...] Cup as it pertains to Horse of the Year, Breeders’ Cup Beyer Speed Figures and Fixing the Breeders’ Cup, but I’ve purposely been rather silent about this year’s Breeders’ Cup from a [...]

By: Kristi

Kristi — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:01:44 +0000

Totally agree on point 2. The additional races dilute the “championship” nature of the event. But, if there were enough elite races to fill a two-day card, I’d support the 2-day thing….it’s fun.
Point 3 – I’m in favor of the synthetic track….it’s the future of racing. It may not be this iteration of the synthetics that we adopt long term, across the country, but we are moving away from dirt. If it’s a choice between tradition and attempting to provide a safer trip for the horse…I choose the latter. A 1-day event with all elite horses…racing on synthetic surfaces….seems like a good compromise, no?
(And I’m a little biased about the back to back Santa Anita events….has been very convenient for me. MEMEMEMEMEME!)

By: Darrell

Darrell — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:09:14 +0000

Steve -
Yes…it’s 2 years now but I was saying that by the time they run the Breeders’ Cup next year it will have been 3 years since there was a Breeders’ Cup race on dirt. Pretty crazy. Kinda goes hand in hand with the fact that in 3 years as of this year the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile will never have actually been run at a mile on the dirt!

By: Steve M.

Steve M. — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:57:05 +0000

Darrell, hasn’t it only been two years since the last BC on dirt? Monmouth in 2007 was on a dirt track, albeit at sloppy one. I guess it will have been three years since a quality BC. Well, maybe next year . . .

By: Darrell

Darrell — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:05:16 +0000

Stanley & Shawn – Thanks very much for the feedback and agreement. Very frustrating to watch because this Breeders’ Cup/championship concept really isn’t all that difficult to get right! The amazing thing is that there really isn’t much debate on these decisions…they’re just making wrong ones that clearly no one agrees with and don’t pan out. It’s not like when they announced the “Ladies Classic”, the 2-day format, Santa Anita X 2 etc that opinions were mixed. These were universally panned and nothing that’s happened since has proven them smart or right.

It’s hard to screw up such an easy concept – and something that was running so smoothly for so long – but they’ve managed…and quickly!

By: Shawn

Shawn — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:26:23 +0000

i like your input
lets try to save horse racing
the breeders’ cup is a total sh*t show right now

By: stanley

stanley — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:31:37 +0000

right on! your analysis is straightforward and it couldn’t be any simplier to understand. the expansion into two days, saying nothing of the ticket prices last year is sufficient proof that we need new individuals in leadership positions. to put it into commonsensical terms: if you had been throwing a party for two decades and watched as attendance started slipping would you expand the party into a two-day event? of course not. I’m sorry but we have been way to patient with the incompetence of those making the decisions.