GETTING THE CUP IN GEAR
By Ray Paulick
Horse of the Year won’t be the only racing subject being debated in the coming weeks in the wake of the 26th Breeders’ Cup championships from Santa Anita Park Nov. 6-7. For what it’s worth, if I had a vote in the Eclipse Awards (and I don’t), it would go to Zenyatta as Horse of the Year. I can’t blame anyone for supporting Rachel Alexandra, but I am a believer in the Breeders’ Cup being a key factor in determining year-end championships, including Horse of the Year. Zenyatta showed up and turned in a performance for the ages. Rachel Alexandra remained in her stall, resting on her own historic achievements from earlier in the year.
Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra make up the greatest unfulfilled rivalry since…well…Curlin and Big Brown in 2008. If you’re like me, I’ll bet you’re getting tired of these rivalries, the ones that only play out in the mind. I prefer the type settled on the racetrack: Affirmed and Alydar…Sunday Silence and Easy Goer.
The other subject worthy of discussion and debate is the Breeders’ Cup itself. This is year three of the two-day version of this event, one that began in 1984 as an audacious seven-race, $10-million day of racing. It’s now a 14-race smorgasbord that includes more “championship” races than we have championships (as measured by the Eclipse Awards).
The expansion in large part was based, not surprisingly, on money. In 2005, then-Breeders’ Cup president D.G. Van Clief Jr., who was serving in the dual role as commissioner of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, set a goal of $200 million in handle for the event by 2010. Total handle that year (when the event was at Belmont Park) was $124.0 million, and it rose to $140.3 million in 2006 (Churchill Downs was the host site), the last time the Breeders’ Cup was conducted on one day.
The expansion to two days and more races was also designed in part to be more attractive to an international audience of horseplayers. The downside is the dilution effect it has on the entire event. Has victory in a Breeders’ Cup race lost some significance?
The first two-day Breeders’ Cup, held at a very wet Monmouth Park in 2007, yielded a total of $147.2 million in handle, and $155.7 million was bet at the 2008 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree Racing Association meeting. Handle dropped in 2009 to $150.2 million, despite the availability of common-pool wagering for the first time to Betfair’s two-million-plus customers.
Barring some sort of a miracle, the 2010 Breeders’ Cup will fall well short of Van Clief’s stated goal. In fact, it could be argued the event is less successful today from a wagering standpoint than it was 10 years ago in 1999, when it hit $100 million in handle for the first time and was still conducted on a single day.
But should handle (or television ratings, which also are lower today than they were 10 years ago) be the yardstick for success? The expansion from eight to 14 Breeders’ Cup races has broadened participation in the event from a horse owner’s standpoint, and it’s given the breeders who support the program through nominations more chances to recoup the fees they’ve paid over the years.
I wouldn’t pretend to compare the Breeders’ Cup Marathon or Juvenile Fillies Turf or some of the other new races with the Turf or Classic in terms of importance or prestige. Those races aren’t going to produce as much betting turnover, either. But they are races that should attract the best of their division from around the world, and they are interesting betting races for fans (compared to the standard fare of five- or six-horse fields that plague so many top races nowadays). In addition, though the new races have increased the total prize money to $25.5 million, roughly one-third of those new purses are paid for by pre-entry and entry fees. So in my mind these new races do serve some purpose.
Have Breeders’ Cup officials hit on the perfect formula on how to present the two days? Probably not. There are many who feel stacking all the filly and mare races on Friday (along with the Marathon) is insulting and sexist. There are other options, including putting the newest and least compelling races on Friday and keeping Saturday with the traditional Cup races. They could also consider making Friday all turf racing and Saturday the main track races.
But the real problem with the Breeders’ Cup is not the event itself, or the order in which the races are run. It’s the absence of an understandable, easy-to-follow ranking or eligibility system in the weeks and months leading up to the Cup.
The Win and You’re In qualifying races are a start, but not the end game solution. It also doesn’t help that so many other tracks are hosting live races on the same day as the Breeders’ Cup and, in effect, competing with the championships for wagering dollars. Our industry should take a look at another racing sport that has its biggest event early in the season and has still managed to create an exciting and engaging championship Cup. NASCAR has the Daytona 500, as big an event for NASCAR as the Kentucky Derby is for horse racing, and has managed to create a build up after its early climax with its Chase For The Sprint Cup. In order for horse racing to build itself back to national prominence outside of the first Saturday in May, a similar invention must be instituted with the Breeders’ Cup as the final act.
It’s a challenge to organize a sport that lacks structure and organization, but that’s the challenge the Breeders’ Cup was given through a long-term strategic plan presented to the board of directors earlier this year. For this plan to be fully developed and implemented, it will require the cooperation of not just horsemen, but of racetracks that in years past have been reluctant to work with the Breeders’ Cup. Those tracks have to understand that a healthy and prosperous Breeders’ Cup is in their best interest, just as the Breeders’ Cup has to realize that tracks must be viewed as partners in developing the strategic plan.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: belmont park, betfair, Big Brown, Breeders' Cup, Chase for the Sprint Cup, churchill downs, Curlin, D. G. Van Clief Jr., Daytona 500, juvenile fillies turf, kentucky derby, Monmouth, nascar, Paulick Report, Rachel Alexandra, Ray Paulick, santa anita park, zenyatta
November 9th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Liked the article expect there was no rivalry between Curlin and Big Brown. Curlin was a world class race horse and Big Brown was a decent horse with no competition. Want proof look at who they raced and what they did afterwards or are doing today, enuff said.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
the best race i have ever witnesed, and i have been going to santa anita for over 50 yrs.
our whole family was there and yelling our heads off , over Zenyatta.
we wont forget this ever.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Everything about this business is being diluted year after year. The fact that there were also 6 to 8 other graded stakes races carded over the breeders cup weekend proves that there is no direction for the industry. There are not enough quality horses to fill 14 Graded Breeders Cup races and an additional 6 to 8 graded races around the country.
NASCAR succeeds because they restrict the number of top level races and the number of participants in those races. They have not added an extra day of racing to the Daytona 500 to increase fan participation. They have kept it to one Daytona 500 race and only the top qualifiers gain entry to the race. The fact that many of the runners in the BC races could participate because their owners were prepared to pay the entry fees not beacuse they deserved to be in the championship races based on performance is another perplexing problem with the BC.
To qualifiy to run in the Kentucky Derby a runner must be in the top 20 based on Graded Earnings. There are horses that are unable to run in the derby because they have not performed well enough. For the Breeders Cup it appeared that as long as the owner was prepared to pay the entry fee that any horse could run in any BC race as long as there were starting stalls. If they could not enter in one race they just chose to enter their horse in another race that was not over subscribed.
The BC is not about championships but about what is the best way to generate more money for the BC not what is best for the horse industry.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Can’t agree about Zenyatta, though her win Saturday was absolutely marvelous. She’s perfect. She’s fantastic. But … .
All 6 horses who finished at the top in the ‘08 and ‘09 Classics were turf/synthetic horses. Who knows how Zenyatta would have done at Churchill or Pimlico or Monmouth or Saratoga? No one knows, because we didn’t get to see her at any of those tracks. Zenyatta stayed in California - at Hollywood Park, Del Mar and Santa Anita. After the Classic, it may seem that she can do anything, but so many of the big California horses who come east don’t do as well on the dirt.
Emotion is bound to run in Zenyatta’s favor right now. But to say that Zenyatta should win Horse of the YEAR because she won the Classic? The YEAR ought to mean the WHOLE YEAR. Zenyatta’s fantastic Classic win capped a year in which she ran only a few races, all on synthetics and all but the last against lesser competition. Rachel won 8 races in as many months, including the Preakness, the Haskell and the Woodward.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I like the two day format and the Marathon was my best betting race this year and last, so it’s becoming my favorite race!
If they put all turf races on one day and dirt on the other, in most years the Euro’s would dominate on turf day and the US on dirt day. IMO that would quickly lose it’s appeal. I’m not crazy about the Ladies Day gimmick either though. But the idea of putting the newest races on Friday sounds good.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
WELL WELL “NOELL” SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE A FEMALE THAT IS NOT WELL INFORMED…
FOR YOUR INFO> ZENYATTA SHIPPED FROM HOLLYWOOD PARK TO “OAKLAWN PARK”
TO RUN IN THE G1 APPLE BLOSSOM HANDICAP….& CAME FROM 10 LENGTHS OUT OF IT TO WIN WITH EASE..THE NEXT MORNING SHE WAS ON HER WAY BACK TO HOLLYWOOD PARK…THAT ALL TOOK PLACE APRIL 5TH 2008…THAT WAS THE FIRST & ONLY TIME SHE RAN ON A NORMAL DIRT TRACK. IF I REMEMBER,I THINK THAT OAKLAWN IS STILL A DIRT TRACK UNLESS YOU HAD IT CHANGED…I WAS A “RACHEL” FLAG WAVER UNTIL I SAW THAT RACE LAST SATURDAY….I CAME ON THE RACE TRACK WHEN ASSAULT WON THE TRIPLE CROWN…& BY THE WAY> I HAVE 2 DAUGHTERS, 46 & 54 YRS OF AGE & THEY ALSO SWITCHED TO ZENYATTA…
EUGENE LEVEY OWNER/TRAINER CONSULTANT AGE 80
November 9th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Noelle, first you diminish the Classic this year because eastern dirt horses did poorly, then you say California horses do poorly back east. So you’re admitting that all tracks have their biases, but it’s obvious you’ll only be happy with results from tracks that are biased in favor of your favorite horse.
And lesser competition? Macho Again and Mine That Bird almost caught Rachel. Zenyatta took down an international field of G1 winners with ease and at a classic distance. And in case you missed it, the fillies and mares Zenyatta beat this year (and last) are miles above the sorry crop Rachel beat.
And since you apparently missed it,one of Zenyatta’s best races was on dirt so we do know how she fared on that surface.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
The one and a quarter miles distance of the Breeders’ Cup Classic separates Zenyatta from any others.
By Street Cry (Ire.), by Machiavellian, from a Kris S ,mare. He by Roberto, by Hail to Reason.
You can have all the Hennessy’s and Pulpits and Tale of the Scats. Speed Trash.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
First of all, HOY is about what happened THIS year not 2008 at Oaklawn. Regardless of who wins that contest, Ray is right that the lead up to the BC should be more pronounced and exciting. Divisional honors, leading to regional races could be a start. Remember the old American Championship Racing Series? That was a start that didn’t get enough support. Win and your in is also a start but what about a win and then you can run here or there. For example, starting in the spring, win a certain Graded Stake then you are expected to run in a Grade I where the top 3 get a chance to place and your in? Also use a scale of Graded earnings to decide eligibility to run in such regional races. There should be no other live racing the day of the Breeder’s Cup. Handle would go through the roof. Are there any other football games the day of the Super Bowl or at the same time as the BCS Championship Game or NCAA Basketball final?
November 9th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
The problem with the comparison to NASCAR and NFL or any other sport lies in the structure of the respective entities. The Daytona 500 and Super Bowl are league events. They are part of a greater whole.
Horse racing has no such creature. The Breeders’ Cup is its own thing and looking out for itself. It has no greater master.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Zenyatta clearly deserves to be named Horse of the Year, AND
Rachel Alexandra clearly deserves to be named Horse of the Year.
Tie favors the runners, so the two great fillies should share the award. I see no other alternative!
November 9th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Saturday’s performance blew my mind and the thought of Z not winning HOY after that is almost unfathonable, but I still think the honors should go to the horse that excelled throughout the year (how many turf horses from Europe have we crowned based on one win in the BC - disregarding the hard knockers that raced throught the year). I fear too much emphasis goes into one race, one day - not true old-fashioned campaigns.
I still think that honor goes to Rachel, who repeatedly stepped outside her division, raced in several states (got fans from all over out to see her- how novel in a dying sport) and all while enduring a change in ownership/training.
And to those who knock RA’s margin of victory, each horse has a style of run, and the fact that she was able to cut such fast early fractions and still finish victoriously is only more acknowledgement of her talent. Slew’s greatest race was his defeat in the Gold Cup - after running her same style.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Rachel Alexandra deserves to be HOY. Both RA and Zenyatta crushed their competition in their respective divisions during 2009. As a result, we must look at their body of work outside their divisions. (Of course, if we looked at their work within their divisions, we would see that RA won the Ky Oaks and Mother Goose by a combined 39+ lengths. While we shouldn’t use margins of victory alone to determine HOY, RA’s stats are impressive nonetheless.)
In the Preakness, RA ran a fantastic race. From the outside post, she chased a very good speed horse in Big Drama through an opening half of 46-and-change, and still managed to fend off a very good closer, Mine That Bird, on his preferred surface.
In the Haskell, she toyed with a field of males and won, just missing the stakes record time. Of course, in the Preakness and Haskell, she only faced 3yo’s, but RA is three herself.
This made her performance in the Woodward all the more important, because it was against older males. What did she do? She became the first female of any age to win that Grade 1 contest.
Winning Horse of the Year means being the best horse over the entire year. One must look at the year as a whole. Because of her performances over the entire year, Rachel Alexandra deserves to be Horse of the Year.
Take nothing away from Zenyatta and her connections. She is an outstanding mare. But we can’t let the emotion of one season-ending victory overpower the entire year that Rachel Alexandra put together.
Rachel Alexandra deserves to be the 2009 Horse of the Year.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
The Breeders’ Cup should revert to a one-day event, with ten championship races: Classic, Ladies’ Classic, Turf, Filly & Mare Turf, Turf Sprint, Turf Mile, Dirt Mile, Filly & Mare Sprint, Juvenile, Juvenile Fillies. Entries should be limited to invitation only from premier races in North America and Europe held throughout the year. Those who enter the starting gate should be the horses with the best cumulative performance in Grade 1/Group 1 races; in other words, the best of the best. To ensure that the best horses run, make each race define the division champions, and let the purses reflect the importance of the races (i.e. make the Classic $8 million; there is no way that the Breeders’ Cup can legitimately bill this race as the championship race of the year when the Dubai World Cup is offering a $10 million purse in March).
November 9th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
The fact that the televised coverage of the Breeders’ Cup jumped back & forth between ESPN & ABC did not help with viewership. Wagering…. well, the goals always seem to be total handle, thus the increase in the number of races. I do like the expansion for more turf races in the juvenile divisions, as maybe it will encourage trainers, & racing secretaries to look at more turf races and breeders to breedmore turf horses
That being said… Breeders Cup still misses the point on being fan friendly….. and I will only expound on the fact that they did adjust some ticket pricing, but still not enough..
November 10th, 2009 at 3:43 am
Zenyatta won the equivalent of the Superbowl by defeating a field of the best male horses in training on the biggest stage the sport has to offer, becoming the first female horse to ever win the BC Classic. Zenyatta is the Horse of The Year and Jess Jackson made a huge mistake in denying RA the chance to prove otherwise. The fact that RA had a better “regular season” record doesn’t change that outcome.
November 10th, 2009 at 8:04 am
The Super Bowl analogy doesn’t work in horse racing. Horses don’t play a defined regular season schedule. The best horses from the non-existant regular season don’t play each other in the playoffs, with the final two playing in a final game. It doesn’t work like that.
By not entering her in the BC Classic, Rachel Alexandra’s connections did not deny her the chance to prove that she was deserving of Horse of the Year honors. She had already proven that she was HOY. Her work was done.
Zenyatta’s single foray against males, as thrilling as it was, does not make her HOY. One victory in November does not undo what RA did all season long.
November 10th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Excuse me, isn’t Queen Z a 5yo and RA a 3yo?….talk about connections managing and training for the premier day of US racing, the nod goes to Queen Z because by God, she showed up!
I really get tired of the dirt v. synthetics debate among horse racing fans. Isn’t the idea really about being the greatest (at least for one year and then in perpetuity) truly about being able to do it all for as long as you can at an extremely high level of performance?
November 10th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Forgot to add that the Ecplise vote will probably spilt with RA HOY and Queen Z older champion (although many voters despise Jackson…which isn’t fair to the horse IMHO).
Loosing to RA wouldn’t be a crime or embarrassment, that’s for sure. But some recognition needs to be given to connections that support and succeed at running on syn’s as part of safety reform. What kind of appearance is made when a top horse’s connections say syn’s stink while the industry is trying to reform? It sends conflicting messages to the industry and the public. But heh, the disjointed nature of the current industry does just that on a daily basis.
Tip of the cap to both horses, connections and all those who make racing better.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:41 am
EUGENE LEVEY - I’m sure you’ll correct me if I’m wrong (ignorant female that I am) but isn’t 2009 HOTY supposed to be based on 2009 performance? Sure, Zenyatta’s Apple Blossom Handicap was fantastic - but as noted by others it was run LAST YEAR. I’m not suggesting that she couldn’t have won on the dirt in ‘09 too - I’m sure she could have (even if I’m not so sure about last year’s Classic winner or both years’ runners-up) but the fact is that she stayed in California.
Both Zenyatta and Rachel were perfect this year, and no one can know what result a contest between the 2 might have produced, but Rachel’s was the more difficult campaign.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:42 am
You idiots are still arguing about horse of the year and miss the point. When poker is making headlines and the breeders cup is not, then we must do something about it.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:58 am
You are right , Ray, to put emphasis on divisional titles on BC performance, but not to place emphasis on a non-starter is wrong for horseracing. RA did her work through the winter, did not benefit from two months of handwalking in Nov. and Dec. because her connections at the time did not circle Nov. 7, 2009 as her objective. RA put in a long, hard campaign (1 1/2 years) and obviously deserved her vacation. It has nothing to do with any political statements about plastic.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Noelle:
“Both Zenyatta and Rachel were perfect this year, and no one can know what result a contest between the 2 might have produced, but Rachel’s was the more difficult campaign.”
….and RA, for whatever reason (most probably, human) did not show up on the most important racing industry day of the current racing calender year because her owner didn’t like the surface. And I have tremendous respect for the connections that brought Queen Z to the Classic and still won. That says tons. I personally think that the campaign or some undisclosed physical issue caused RA’s absence. And that last point is to not take anything away from RA, but…
Isn’t it fantastic that as fans we have a year of racing that generates this kind of interest and debate?!?!
November 10th, 2009 at 11:26 am
In the past I have noticed that the best three year old running whatever sex, is normally voted the Three Year Old of the Year. The best older horse running is normally Horse of the Year. There is something to be said for keeping a horse heathly and winning over the course of more than a year. Rachael will be running next year and the conditions will be different for her because she will then be running against all age horses. Without a doubt Rachael should win Three Year old of the Year. Zenyatta should win Horse of the Year, if Mr. Jackson wanted Horse of the Year he should have pointed her to the Classic and that end.
Mr. Jackson ran Curlin all over the place and mishandled his schedule. He then blamed the track for his loss in Breeders Cup. If Rachael had a schedule that had Breeders Cup in mind, he would have not pushed her so hard in the summer. I have driven hundreds of miles and spent a good amount of money to watch Rachael run in her three year old career and I am a huge fan. Zenyatta came to run against the best the world had to offer. She could not pick the track, or the other horses. It is not fair to hold the races she ran against her. She won them, and with her running style that alone is fantastic! She will retire and hopefully have a wonderful life. She should be Horse of the Year. Rachael can be horse of the year next year, if she holds her form and speed as Zenyatta did for 14 races.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:44 am
To Ray, Brad, & everyone who stayed at home doing the drudge work keeping PR going: I’m delighted that I had the opportunity to join up with the many generous people & corporations who supported the fund-raising “drive.”
(Too bad we didn’t have the option of putting it all to win on Furthest Land!)
In August 2008, Mike Smith was kind enough to join us for a few minutes at our table in a restaurant in Del Mar. He mentioned how avidly he was looking forward to his next day’s ride on Zenyatta.
The next day, the Zenyatta legend was born. She went from last to first, exactly in the way we witnessed yesterday.
But as good as she looked to Mike on the evening of our chat, & as amazing as she looked to us the next day, it was simply out of the range of the human imagination to foresee that, ultimately, she would be the first female horse to win the BC Classic.
The incomprehensible indecision by the stewards - not immediately scratching the completely berserk QR at the gate - was a disaster, narrowly averted. That no one was injured or killed when they decided to reload QR was a miracle.
Jerry Bailey’s post-race comments on ESPN were flagrantly irrational.
After Rachel had won the Woodward, from what I read in the racing press, her connections were generally commended for having placed her in what was considered the tougher of the two races (the Travers, as opposed to the Woodward). I can’t remember having read a single word about Rachel having “ducked” anyone.
Yet, Bailey, immediately after the Classic, stated that Rachel’s connections had been strongly criticized for entering RA in the Woodward because the Woodward field was considered inferior to the horses in the Travers.
As Mr. Reagan was fond of saying, “There he goes, again.”
Post-BC Bonus: No more hot-&-bothered BC columns on synthetic surfaces, for now. The silence will be golden.
Kudos To: “Calracing.com” & TVG did a great job on Classic Day. Next year, they will be sorely missed.
HOTY - RA or Z? No opinion. It’s good enough for me that in one year, not one, but two fillies were the very best (you would have gotten 50-1, maybe higher, on this prop at the Wynn on November 8th, 2008).
A) Next Year’s BC Future Jockey Bet: Make it more interesting.
Set up a Future Trifecta bet, requiring the bettor to successfully pick the winners of 1) The Ladies Classic & 2) The Classic; & 3) The BC jockey with most wins.
That way, the “Field” option for #3 won’t automatically be the favorite, at @ 9/5 (the inevitable outcome each year in the first of the three KD Future Bets).
B) Next Year: Announce the final entries on the Sunday night prior to the Friday Day One racing. Forty-eight hours is a ridiculously inadequate amount of time to process so much information.
C) Next Year: Get rid of the pre- & post-BC, non-BC races.
Message to management: NOBODY CARES. NO ONE wants to see a Triple A Baseball championship game in a doubleheader with a World Series game.
*****
Watching the Yankees win the World Series was sort of Old Hat.
Watching a filly win The Classic was a new Zombrero.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:53 am
P.S. - To those whose Poly Pony bets were winners on Friday & Saturday:
Consider your winnings, “The Wages of Syn.”
November 10th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Zenyatta should be HOY. She was not running against “lesser competition” all year as Noelle seems to think. Look how brilliantly Life is Sweet won the Ladies Classic, a filly that has been running a distant second to Zenyatta all year.
Zenyatta beat the toughest boys the industry had to offer; Gio Ponti, Summer Bird, Colonel John, Richard’s Kid, Einstein, and she blew by them effortlessly as she always does. Had Rachael been in there, she would have been struggling up there with those boys on the lead while Zenyatta cruised by her on the outside.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Noelle, what dirt horses were missing from the ‘09 Classic that could have finished in the top three? Summer Bird, by virtue of his JCGC win was the best dirt horse at 1 1/4. He ran extremely well (according to his trainer) in the BC, but the horses that finished in front of him were all older.
Where were the older dirt horses that could have been competitive? They weren’t there because there weren’t any. The two best older horses in America finished one-two, IMO.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Everyone mentions how Jackson failed in not bringing Rachel to CA. When in fact Rachels owner(s) brought this champion to AK, LA, KY, NJ, NY. Just think how many racing fans got to witness her explosive performances! I don’t begrudge any CA racing fan for wanting Z to be crowned, but it’s sad to think how no one outside the borders of one western state didn’t get to experience a once in a lifetime thrill.
And after all, isn’t our goal to get fans out year-round versus one day?
November 10th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Watching Zenyatta beat turf and dirt males on her preferred synthetic surface on one single occasion does not make her Horse of the Year. We have seen older females beat older males in Grade 1 races before. Granted, it doesn’t happen all the time, and Zenyatta was the first female to perform that feat in the BC Classic, but it was not particularly Earth-shattering.
What Rachel Alexandra achieved in 2009 was truly astounding. A three-year-old female beat males in Grade 1 competition three times, and one of those times was against older horses. We may never see another Rachel Alexandra again for several decades. After all, we haven’t seen one up to this point.
On the other hand, we probably will see another Zenyatta at some point soon. I’m not saying Zenyattas come along every year, but they do come along now and again.
We may never see another single season campaign like the one Rachel Alexandra put together. And for that, she deserves to be crowned the 2009 Horse of the Year.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
“But the real problem with the Breeders’ Cup is not the event itself, or the order in which the races are run. It’s the absence of an understandable, easy-to-follow ranking or eligibility system in the weeks and months leading up to the Cup.”
Let’s say we all agree on this, Ray.
If we do, why should the Breeders’ Cup take on the challenge of fixing this? Because the NTRA tried and couldn’t? Because TJC, TOBA and others are incapable? Because the tracks, left to their own devices, prefer to fight over the shrinking handle than work together to increase it? Because they’d all just rather be gaming companies than racing companies?
This Breeders’ Cup was a phenomenal success in a down economy. Zenyatta has captured people’s imaginations. The Breeders’ Cup is succeeding as a high prestige, international culmination of the racing season. Ask it to take on the challenge of fixing the lack of structure in racing and the lack of cooperation among tracks and you might just kill the whole thing.
It is clear that people are frustrated, but the BC Board needs to be very careful as they move down this path.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Let’s face it all synthetic, all dirt and all turf courses have their own idiosyncrasies. You race there long enough you figure it out and know how to handle it most of the time, but not all the time. Same goes for the handicappers, follow a track long enough and you have a better chance of placing a winning bet. If Santa Anita were still it’s original dirt track and horses still finished in the same position in the BC races, the connections would find something else to complain about or lay the blame on.
The Breeders’ Cup did what it was suppose to do, show off the best horses racing today and treat the fans to a day they could remember. As for the number of BC races, well I think the new races are here to stay, they certainly attracted a lot more entries than the main stay races of the competition. But I still have a problem with the Friday/Saturday format, what’s wrong with a Saturday/ Sunday competition?
Zenyatta you were ripped off last year when you didn’t win HOY, hopefully enough of the East Coast Eclipse voters have seen you in person now to vote you your just rewards!
November 10th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
ZENYATTA IS HORSE OF THE YEAR…PERIOD. RACHEL IS STILL IN THE BARN BECAUSE BO-RAIL BEAT HER TO A PULP IN THE WOODWARD AND SHE STILL HASN’T RECOVERED. BUT HOY ISN’T MY ISSUE HERE. IT’S SANTA ANIAT’S SYNTHETIC SURFACE…7 OF THE 8 B.C. WINNERS ON THE MAIN TRACK HAD RACED EXCLUSIVELY OR MOSTLY ON SYNTHETIC RACETRACKS. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT GRADE1 WINNER BULLSBAY, WHO CAME WITHIN A LENGTH OF RACHEL IN THE WOODWARD AFTER WINNING THE GRADE 1 WHITNEY WAS NEXT-TO-LAST IN THE DIRT MILE? AND PYRO…WHO WON THE GRADE 1 FOREGO AT SARATOGA AND LOOKED LIKE HE WANTED A MILE MORE THAN ANY HORSE IN THE RACE…DEAD LAST IN THE SAME RACE. IS IT JUST A COINCIDENCE THAT THEY BOTH HAD “OFF” DAYS OR WAS IT THE SYNTHETIC SURFACE. THE LATTER OF COURSE.
MR. JACKSON WAS CORECT IN KEEPING RACHEL OUT OF THE BREEDERS’ CUP FOR THE REASON I JUST MENTIONED, BUT NONETHELESS I STIL BELIEVE THAT ZENYATTA SHOULD BE HOY BECAUSE OF HER BEATING THE BEST FIELD ASSEMBLED IN NORTH AMERICA IN 2009 AND BECAUSE SHE’S A PERFECT 14-FOR-14. NEED I SAY MORE?
November 10th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
P.S. In the 2008 Breeders’ Cup 7 of the 8 winners on Santa Anita’s synthetic track ALSO had raced exclusively/mostly on synthetics and most ran at Santa Anita in their final preps. The only one who didn’t was Classic winner RAVENS PASS. Need I say more?
November 10th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
A few facts for your consideration courtesy of Jeremy Plonk’s (ESPN) excellent article:
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/columns/story?columnist=plonk_jeremy&id=4558354
In the 2006 BC held on the DIRT at Churchill Downs:
1. “…six of the top eight spots in our beloved Breeders’ Cup DIRT Classic going to Californians, Europeans and Polytrack horses?”
2. “An unthinkable turf horse won the Juvenile Fillies as Polytrack horses finished third and fourth.”
3. “…four of the top six spots in the Ladies’ Classic (formerly Distaff) went to Polytrack horses as well.”
4. “…along came the Sprint, and there rolled a Californian with a major advantage.”
5. “Those damned Polytrack horses then ran 1-2-3 in the Juvenile, sweeping the trifecta…”
And finally, these stats prior to this year’s BC:
“You do realize that the next New York-based horse to win a Breeders’ Cup main track race at Santa Anita will be the first to do so since Scotty Schulhofer’s Smile in the 1986 Sprint, don’t you? The all-time Santa Anita Breeders’ Cup scorecard on dirt remains: Californians 12 vs. single wins for the New Yorkers (Smile), Kentuckians (Cajun Beat) and French (Arcangues).”
November 11th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Josh Potts, name the last time in the United States a female beat older males at 1 1/4 miles in the United States. It was an astounding accomplishment.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Tiznowbaby, off the top off my head, Estrapade in the 1986 Arlington Million. (And yes, I know Manila beat her in the BC Turf that year. But the Million was still a G1 win over older males.)
I suppose I could rack my brain and/or google this subject all day, and maybe find a few more, but not many. Look, I’m not saying that Zenyatta is not a great horse - clearly she is. But Lady’s Secret was a great mare. Miesque was a great mare. Personal Ensign was a great mare. Even 4yo Goldikova possesses two Grade or Group 1 wins over older males in 2009 - Zenyatta can’t say that.
And enough of this 14-for-14 stuff. She’s 5-for-5 this year. We’re talking about Horse of the Year. Only 2009 matters. Zenyatta is 5-for-5 and Rachel Alexandra is 8-for-8. Each of them possess the same number of Grade 1 wins over older males, but RA did it as a 3yo.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Hey Josh…isn’t it harder to accomplish for any G 1 winner as a 5 yo mare?
November 11th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
D. Masters, maybe I’m not understanding your question, but I think it is more difficult for a 3yo filly to beat older males than it is for a 5yo mare to beat older males. Why would it be easier for a 3yo? (Am I understanding your question?)
November 11th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
FOR YOU YOUNG PEOPLE>> A GOOD 3YR OLD CAN BEAT A GOOD OLDER HORSE THIS TIME OF THE YEAR… ——— ———
November 11th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Eugene, you are right, a good 3yo can beat a good older horse this time of year. But Rachel Alexandra did it two months ago in the Woodward, which is even more impressive.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
During Rachel’s extraordinary campaign she beat males three times, including a group of older males once. That said, she never ran the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles and she never beat a field as loaded with talent from top-to-bottom as the field Zenyatta mowed down in the BC Classic. The bottom line is that RA didn’t show up for the championship event and Zenyatta did. 5/5 trumps 8/8 when one of the five is the most accomplished field of competitors assembled for a North American race in the championship event of the year.
I’ll be rooting and cheering for RA in every race she enters in 2010 just as I did in 2009 but after the events of last Saturday 2009 belongs to Zenyatta.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
mr potts
I BET CITATION (FEB 1948) IN 2ND TIME OUT AS A THREE YEAR OLD AT HIALEAH AGAINST “DELAGATE” & HIS STABLEMATE ” ARMED” HE JUST WON GALLOPING IN THE SEMINOLE HANDICAP..
I USUALLY START BETTING GOOD 3YR OLDS IN MAY…
———
November 11th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I guess my overall problem with the arguments of the Zenyatta backers is because it is all based on one race. Horse racing isn’t college football. It doesn’t come down to just one game.
One of the things that is great about horse racing is it’s grading system. While the grading system is certainly not perfect, fans can watch Grade 1 races all season long.
Now, I understand that the BC Classic is not just your garden variety Grade 1 affair. Zenyatta ran a great race. But great mares have won Grade 1 events at the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles before. Again, it doesn’t happen all the time. It’s rare, and I realize that.
But I have never heard of a 3yo filly having the type of 2009 campaign that Rachel Alexandra had. And if there is a comparable filly that had a comparable year in this great sport’s history, please let me know.
RA had a great 2009 as a whole, while Zenyatta’s backers are basing most, if not all, of their arguments on one single race. We can’t give the award based on one race. If we could, Well Armed would be in the mix for HOY. But he’s not, and for good reason.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
MAYBE I DIDNT SAY MY ABOVE POST RIGHT…..”CITATION” WON THE RACE GALLOPING.
“ARMED” WAS HIS STABLE MATE FINISHED 3RD….”DELAGATE” WAS 2ND
November 11th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Bob Lee, Secretariat was voted Horse of the Year without winning at the classic distance. Based on your logic, that limits the playing field for achieving HOY and would have eliminated Secretariat from his first award. Shouldn’t HOY be open to any horse that excels above and beyond all year long?
November 11th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
mr ktg
I DONT UNDERSTAND WHAT U STATED ABOUT SECRETARIAT NOTWINNING AT THE CLASSIC DISTANTCE!!!…NOW I AM NOT A FAN OF SECRETARIAT EVEN THOUGH HE WAS STABLED 2 BARNS AWAY FROM ME AT BELMONT PARK..
HE DID WIN THE KY DERBY AT A 1: 1/4….I THINK THAT WOULD BE CONSIDERED THE CLASSIC DISTANCE..HE WAS HORSE OF THE YEAR 1973 & ALSO THE HOY AS A 2YR OLD 1972…
WE FROM THE YESTERYEAR ALWAYS REGARDED THE 1 1/2 THE CLASSIC DISTANCE
HORSES LIKE ROUND TABLE, NASHUA, SWAPS, ASSAULT, TOM FOOL, CAPOT, JUST TO NAME A FEW, COULD PULL A STARTING GATE & BEAT THESE IMPOSTERS OF TODAY.
AND THE GREAT GREAT CITATION, FOAL OF 1946 COULD PULL 2 STARTING GATES OF TODAY & WIN AT ANY DISTANCE WITH “SPEED TO SPARE”..A PHRASE FROM THE “DRF” & THE “MORNING TELEGRAPH” THAT WAS USED REGULARLY WHEN HORSES FINISHED THAT WAY IN THE YESTERYEAR & YES I WAS THERE
November 12th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Bob Lee,
First off, why are you yelling? At the end of the day, both deserving fillies.
My point is that Secretariat won HOY as a 2 year old - before he ran the “classic distance”. I don’t think the voters had a cristal ball that he would and could win at that distance so he legitimately won the title without going that distance. (in fact, being by Bold Ruler, there were serious questions whether he could). By the standards being set today - winning the BC Classic, or even your standards of 1 1/4 miles, that discredits so many quality horses that exceed beyond their division.
Personally, I do think Zenyatta would likely beat RA at 1 1/4 miles this year - but the question in place is - who had the better year. And I still think that goes to the 3 yr old that went outside her division 3x and travelled to many tracks.
By the way, I remember Slew, Affiirmed and many of the greats of the 70’s. I too miss the 1 1/2 races and believe our lack of them is why we have not seen a TC winner. But, it’s only natural that I will always think Slew the best (my first great) and you will recall the legends of your years. Doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy the good ones when they come along.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:52 am
HORSE OF THE YEAR
——————————
COULD BE BOTH OF THEM> its happened before
November 12th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
ktq,
I’m not sure what you mean by “why are you yelling?” That’s a different poster who is typing in all caps, not me. My posts have just been espousing my own opinion and not meant to be offensive or even particularly argumentative.
I understand your point but still believe that Zenyatta’s performance this year, capped by a victory against the toughest field assembled in North America in 2009 eclipses RA’s. Comparing only the number of wins (8 vs. 5) as the primary criteria for HOY just doesn’t cut it in my opinion because Rachel didn’t beat any field of the caliber that Zenyatta crushed in the Classic. At the end of the day this is all just an exercise in discussing two absolutely spectacular horses. Either one would easily win the HOY honor in most any other year. Unfortunately, this year, one of them won’t. My vote still goes to Zenyatta.
November 12th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Oh bob - my bad, we were chatting and mistook eugene levy’s post. funny that i mistook a comedic actor! I agree, it’s a great arguement to have! that means racing was blessed by 2 outstanding performances. while I understand that the BC is meant to bring the best together, that does not always equate. IE RA beat Mine that Bird when he was a much better horse in May versus then when he met up with Z. That’s just one example where it’s hard to put too much stock in one race (MTB’s Derby maybe??) and that especially with horses when they can’t tell you they’re having an off day it’s best to go collectively over the year.
but you’re right, 2 superstars.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
ktq,
For whatever it’s worth, I am among RA’s biggest fans and spent most of the year talking up her accomplishments to my other horse racing enthusiast friends. Prior to last Saturday RA would have received my vote for HOY based on my belief that Zenyatta was overrated and had virtually no chance of beating the truly stellar field of horses assembled for the BC Classic. As I stood in the grandstands at Santa Anita and witnessed her mow down the field of fierce competitors I couldn’t have cared less about the money I dropped on losing tickets bet on other horses in the race. Like the other 55,000+ fans in attendance I was screaming and cheering for her to pass them all as the finish line neared. It was the single greatest moment I have ever witnessed in sports and as she crossed the wire there I was - a 55-year-old man with tears in his eyes - realizing that she had proved all of us doubters wrong. She retires undefeated and her final race was perfection personified.
November 13th, 2009 at 7:34 am
As I was moved to tears watchin RA at Saratoga. So, should she win, the first round is on me!
November 13th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
As I have said on other posts and other blogs, I am a big fan of both racing (since 1970) and of these two magnificent females. They both deserve HOY. In any other year, each alone would be the champion hands down -such as Secretariat’s dominant 2yo year when there wasn’t a clear leader among the older horses. But in a year when we have two outstanding individuals who never settled the matter on a neutral track, we have to come up with some way to to distinguish them if we can’t split the award. In my mind, you have to look at more than “RA won 8 and Zen won 5 etc”. You need to look past your East Coast vs. West Coast biases too. You need to look at the type of race (distance, restricted by age, and weight-for-age vs. handicap, etc.) and the quality of competition. Under those criteria, I have to give the nod to Zenyatta.
Rachel’s peer group would seem to be, shall we say, less than stellar this year, especially among the fillies with the possible exception of Careless Jewel, whom she never faced. The best of the boys would seem to be Summer Bird, who owns a victory over older horses in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. The older horses she faced in the Woodward were, for the most part, not quite the “A” team. And remember, she only raced in weight for age, and never had to carry or give weight, getting eight pounds from Macho Again in that desperate finish at Saratoga and five from everyone in the Preakness and Haskell. Still, she had a remarkable three year old filly campaign, possibly second only to Busher’s 1945 one. Truly outstanding and deserving of accolades - maybe just not HOY this year.
Zenyatta, on the other hand, raced against all comers in the handicap and open division. The fillies and mares she consistently defeated gave more than credible showing in the Ladies’ Classic (Life is Sweet, anyone?) She carried 129 pounds in the Vanity (reportedly the highest weight carried by a horse in the US since 1977), giving up to 19 pounds to her rivals and won going away. The BC Classic field, including some of the 3 year olds RA faced, was considered of such high quality before the race that the “experts” gave her almost no chance to win. She received only three pounds from the older boys, but GAVE a pound to the highly touted three-year olds, spotted them all at least 15 lengths and ran by everyone with her ears pricked in a final mile time faster than the winner of the BC Mile. She came, she saw, and she conquered. (And before anyone can say “home track” or “synthetics”, her home track is Hollywood, very different from SA, her trainer says she only tolerates syns and prefers dirt (scary thought), and see the above citation for showing that the last time the BC was held at Churchill on good old dirt, the synthetic “specialists” and turf horses won most of the dirt races then, too.) Should she have raced the boys more? Oh, yeah, she probably should have. Even the, unless the weight got to her, I still don’t see her losing to what’s out there this year in any division. She’s that good.
What a wonderful dilema to have! Two champions for the ages, with the promise of at least one more Rachel Alexandra campaign. I can hardly wait.