if they feel a need to split the event, why not make a juvenile day and make all those races on friday or make it a saturday- sunday event.
as it stands now instead of Ladies Day call it BC Oaks Day.

I essentially agree. Add the Turf Sprint and Marathon to bookend the card and you have a decent Pick-6 of somewhat related races headlined by two big events.

Far too intelligent a concept.

A couple of random thoughts on the subject....
Handle drives the game..participation of the fan base largely drives the handle.
Fan base falls into several categories... Hardcore, casual, newbie.
Newbies evolve to become Casuals...Casuals evolve to become Hardcore
Increasing the pool of Newbies and expediting the fan evolution process may well be keys to the long term survival of the sport. IMHO promotion, education, and incentive are keys to both bringing in more newbies and expediting fanbase evolution.
Kentucky Oaks day has become a hugh event in Louisville and to some extent with the hardcore fans of the sport...it is not that big with the non-Louisville casual fans of the sport.
Newbies are generally created by attending live racing and to a lesser extent by media coverage of the sport... in either case it is the casual and/or hardcore fan that frequently gets the newbie initially involved.
The Breeders Cup Friday card is not likely to add many new fans to the game...the on track attendance at the host track may improve via more of the Saturday crowd coming out a day earlier,but to a large extent that was happening anyway.
Any increase in Friday handle at non-host track venues will not likely be coming from new fans.

I hope not but...........................
I don't think the Messiah, Rags to Riches will come again.
I think she is done.

More is sometimes less
and the new format is just greed

The newbie to casual to hardcore description is correct but remember, only a very few ever become hardcore. Drive away 2 or 3 of them and 1000 newbies doesn't make up for it.

I also am not sure how placing a bunch of (supposedly) important events on a weekday will draw NEW fans. Several people who post here (presumed hardcore fans/players) have said that they wouldn't bother with Friday. If that's the case, what the devil makes BC think that some receptionist from Pasadena with no connection to racing will skip work on Fri to go to the track???!!!

Places like Louisville, Lexington, Saratoga and DelMar have sufficient casual fans and locals who want to see and be seen at the big events to fill the stands. They have tradition and location in their favor. I grew up in Albany and Saratoga has been part of my conciouness ALL MY LIFE. I'm sure kids in Lexington feel the same about Keeneland. With the BC being (supposedly) a moving event, how does one establish the tradition? Places like I mentioned rely on local tradition, parents taking kids to the the races. Kids choosing to continue to attend, bringing their kids someday.

I am most disappointed with the renaming of the Distaff. I admit to being a big fan of Personal Ensign. I think most would agree that her race in the Distaff is one of the best moments in horse racing history. To have that race renamed as the Ladies Classic just doesnt seem right to me. As many have already posted I think they again miss the boat on the intelligence of the racing fan. Ladies Classic is geared more towards the person (not generally the racing fan). I guess the word Distaff was too difficult for the mass population.

But if they said that, they're correct.

They'd be 100% correct. Look at Kentucky Oaks day. Sure, there are probably better ideas that they can come up with and hopefully, they will continue to be open to tinkering with it to find what is the absolute best situation. But these changes aren't going to have any negative impact on the fans that watch the races at all. None.

That's just so wrong that it's almost depressing.

There will be many people who don't see the Friday races that will be denied seeing the races decided Saturday that belong as part of the marquis event. Instead they will see inconsequential filler.

Some of us " fans " aren't enamoured with turf sprints....now we are forced to deal with one if we want to play Pick-4s on Saturday ( involving other true championship races ). I know this fan won't be playing.

Why does the Kentucky Oaks work on Friday but people think that the audience for the Friday BC races won't?

The Kentucky Oaks Day is basically a holiday in Louisville. Do you think Pasadena is planning a similar situation?

The Kentucky Oaks is big in Louisville, and it is part of the one race that captures the attention of non-racing fans, and yet it's supporting races are still probably missed by the vast majority of racing fans.

I agree with maintaining a traditional Saturday lineup. Friday should be for the newbies. Hey, some people work Saturdays too. Not everybody works Mon-Fri. So the Friday makes sense to me for the newer races only.

I use the term "fan" loosely...perhaps "wagering participant" is more appropo...

....and Churchill gets 50,000 or more on Thursday before the Oaks. And schools are closed on Friday.

Never say never.

this is the biggest problem i see with these moves, i agree completely. they've watered down saturday terribly.

The way I look at it...the more the merrier. I like giving the horses an opportunity to compete. I may not agree with the exact lineup, but generally I feel a star can be born in any race. I'm positive about the 2 days.

I would have agreed with this before observing how racing fans showed very little enthusiasm when presented with the opportunity to bet with a 4% takeout last summer, prefering instead to "figure out" how to beat a 16-20% takeout elsewhere.

--Dunbar

With so many years of stability in the Breeders Cup, you have just so many changes over the past number of years that it has gotten a bit crazy. I suppose most people are thinking what the hell have they got in store for next year??

I couldn't blame anyone for not betting Ellis Park if they offered free bets. Even though a lot of fans read the form and dont really know what they are doing, at least they can read unlike the vast majority of the NASCAR fan base (sorry Cajun and Slotdirt)