where would you hold it? Everyone is going crazy about SA, hollywood is poly/gone soon, GP has the wrong facility, AP is poly, NY and KY are way too cold. Maybe if Brunetti were to croak and a sane person were to take over and you made Hialeah the standing location for the BC could you do this. But of course vampires never die and brunetti will live forever.

Hold on, you are saying that marketing the sport is worthless to the future of racing?

He ran her in a logical spot where she was an overwhelming favorite. That is not sporting, it is logical. Running her against this collection of boys is not exactly a stretch. Freddy, no one ran because of the extra 250k. While running her in the Preakness was not a slam dunk, this was.

The only way you can make the Breeders Cup a successful television event is to have it at two tracks with staggered post times so that a race is going off every 15 minutes (like the Sunshine Millions). Owners, trainers, and jockeys will all fight this so it will never happen. Even when I get people to watch horse racing and they start to get interested, as soon as they see it is another half hour to the next race they go find something else to do. If you have a race going off every 15 minutes they may actually stick around and watch. With the current structure it is never going to draw new fans as it makes for a terrible televised event.

:tro:

And Zenyatta ,who you have to love is, Is Personal Ensign an all time great because she won the Whitney? I didn't suggest she was an all time great yet and if Jess Jackson did who cares, he thinks Curlin was the end all..
So Rachel runs in either the Travers or Woodward beat colts or older AGAIN for the 3rd time and now we need to see some Group 2 winning gelding beat her on Pro Ride or she wins and everyone says all she beat was a couple of Birdstones and a washed up G2 euro slug.. Your kidding right you want it both ways.. Look IF she beats the colts in the Travers and or the real men in the Woodward whomever they are or aren't she will have been the best the sport had on DIRT in 2009.. Were she stacks up vs. Seattle Slew, Secretariat, Affirmed Spectular Bid Cigar Winning Colors or Personal Ensign will always be debateable. None of that is important it's only important to watch her do well vs. the best the sport has on her best surface.. If you feel that she HAS to try Pro Ride again you have to be of the opinion that she has to try grass as well it the same friggin argument.

Logical is what her prior connections would have done and that is put her in the Alabama.

Brought my daughter out there after she finished 2nd in her equitation event.

Here is how I captured it:

Regardless of what the previous connection may or may not have done the Haskell was a logical spot.

Man....those are some serious pics

You keep making assertions that the Euros that came last year were slugs. Why is that? Where she stacks up against the horses of yesteryear will always be debatable but her position as possibly the best horse of the poly era now and going future could not be achieved without a definitive poly victory. It is all rather unsporting to skip a race you may lose because a different horse lost on that surface which may or may not have been the cause of that loss.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/08/03/ra...kell-monmouth/

Yeah she has no crossover appeal...

I don't think it's a bad idea, but I think you are punishing the loyal fans who watch and play all year round just to cater to a fan base that probably won't watch another race until the derby. I enjoy watching and playing the entire day. I look at it as a second Super Bowl. Plus, I still miss stuff with 45 minutes in between races now I will only have about 15. Lets face it a day at the track is a day at the track. It should not be made into a 2 hour made for TV special.

Oh yeah, Awesome pics Rev. Thanks for posting.

There is nothing untrue in what you say. The simple fact remains that in its current structure it is a terrible television event so the idea that the BC is going to draw in new fans is unrealistic. You can't have less than 4 minutes of action an hour and keep casual fans watching.

TV is not the answer people. A good marketing department IS the answer.

There will be 30k out for the Million next weekend here, and it isn't because of a ton of horse racing fans around here, it is because they market the hell out of it. 35k for Mothers and Fathers Day out here.

Arlington has been packed on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. When I saw packed, between 10k and 20k. And let me say this, if Arlington was to try a night card like Churchill did, they would get 30k out there, easy.

Arlington is no where near TV. They have some radio spots, but they market the living hell out of it, especially when people actually come to the track.

you are right he should have called and paid for all the other colts that had abilty to come an additional 25k beyond the 25k Monmouth GIVES any triple crown runner and also asked that Quality Road to heal faster so we could get him in too..Then he could have called Aidan o'brien up and offered to ship in a few from his barn and or matched the 1.25 purse if anyone beat his filly.. How much does purse money really mean to Ed Evan, Tabor, Live Oak, Shiek Mo, Phipps, Jess, Zayat..It's basically the carrot for trainers.. Hi I am Paul Reddam I am here for my check please..Your funny Bob and i care about purses because it matters.. Hi Charlotte here is your 87k for coming in 2nd...put it with the others on the table please.. Enough of this purse nonsense..

Nobody ran because they were running for second.. Rachel is currently the fastest 3 year old at 9'fs PERIOD..

I guess its unsporting for her not to run in the Turf Classic then as well..12f's on the grass 3 turns males sounds like a plan..She may lose BUT if she could win we finally could say she won on Poly, Dirt and finally grass routing long...A TRUE CHAMPION..What's next off to Sheppard for some jumping or perhaps we give her a shot trotting, toss on some trotting hobbles and a cant see back bridle and away she goes.....

This is good news...Nothing wrong with Poly

So the correct way to campaign a horse is in illogical spots? :zz:

In that case, Jamie Sanders should have won the Eclipse a few years back!

That's why they have to take other opportunites to drag them in. The BC is a tough platform to sell to would be fans because of the all day format not to mention the two words College Football. If they are able to get/have the fans before the BC then those people might be a bit captivavted, or to watch a horse that they might have seen in a well promoted race during the summer.
Then maybe NTRA/BC could buy some air time on other networks to remind people and advertise the upcoming stars in the next race that will be going off in about 10 or so minutes. ABC could have some sort of crawl with updates reguarding post times and prices. At least you might get a few people that will be reminded and flip over to watch a race or two and not have to watch the endless garbage that goes into making a 6 hour show (that most races fans let alone newbies don't care about to watch).

The obvious point that Rachel will bring more viewership is a complete axiom

in fairness, the Euros we sent over for the Classic last year were pretty good, same with this year..

It will be one of the biggest missed opportunites in horse racing if they can't get Zenyatta and Rachel in the starting gates together, be it with other fillies, colts, mares, turf horses, poly horses, dirt horses or on their own..

No stop twisting it. The idea that somehow Jackson has done the sport or fans a favor by running her in the Haskell is countered by the fact that she was an overwhelming and deserved favorite in that spot which made perfect sense in the racing schedule. He is supposed to run in there. He should be knocked if he had taken the easy route by running against fillies when she is clearly the best 3 yo. It wasnt like this was some tough decision.

Please stop. The vast majority of owners (like 99%) need the purse money. No one said that yeah I'll run because of that extra $250k. Especially not the top 3 who were already pointing there and the rest who had little realistic shot of earning much of it.

She has never won on the turf and that race isnt the premier race of the fall.

If you cannot even acknowledge how far boxing has fallen, even from just the 70s, you are a proven fool and a waste of my time.

The idea that she wouldnt bring in more viewers is ridiclous

I was joking with that, but you know Frankel, Sheriffs and McLaughlin would have chosen the soft spot. In the current day company he is in, Jackson and Assmussen are more sportsmanlike.

It's all personal opinion on what is sporty. Lukas has run a lot of horses in places others wouldn't dream of and some see that as a good thing and others as poor management.

Yeah boxing is dead. Just because they dont have fights on free tv doesnt mean that it is dead. Maybe it isnt as widely popular but the premier events still have broad appeal as shown by the ppv numbers and amount of $$ still thrown about by casinos to hold these fights. I'd love to be able to fight you for a $10 million dollar payday. As a matter of fact I'd have a go with you for free.

My boss just walked in, not a big racing fan but a sports fan and follows things,

he asks me when does RA run against Zenyatta.........

that was a tough one to explain, last year I could say it was a filly and colt thing.

This was a soft spot...for a lot of money. Once you win the Preakness, it is now UNSPORTING not to try the boys again. That is where everyone is confused. She wasnt put in that spot for the good of the sport, she was put there because she figured to win and it was the biggest race available in the timeframe. And lets not forget that this isnt a trainers call and wouldnt be regardless of who trained the horse. Jackson makes all the decisions.

And I cant remember Lukas ever being questioned for running a horse in a spot where he/she was 1/2.

Exactly. There is no reasonable excuse.

I guess it is too obvious to point out out that there are plenty of races before the BC where they could meet. Hell, they could meet AFTER the BC in the Clark, or NYRA Cigar Whatever Mile, or in some other race (not a match race--that would be a wipeout) any enterprising dirt track might create for them (CDI's FG or CRC immediately come to mind). But no, we must bow our knee to the great God "Breeders Cup", and its repeated polytrack foolishness. For the good of the sport, as always, of course.

Clown.

Trainers used to run their horses 3-5 times or more on a regular basis when prepping for the TC. Having your last prep more than four weeks out was unheard of. Look at how they do it now. More and more are using only two prep races and it's not even unusual to have a couple of horses coming in with layoffs of five weeks or longer. The training and racing philosophy has changed. Do you blame the Derby for the changes in the way horses are prepared for it? If not, why do you blame the BC for the way that horses are prepared for it? The BC existed when Cigar was running 10 times in 1995. It existed when Personal Ensign and Alysheba were running their ninth races of 1988. It existed when Easy Goer was running his 11th race of 1989. Hell, it was just two years ago when Curlin's BC was his ninth race of the year. If you want to blame anyone, blame the trainers, blame the Eclipse voters, blame the sheets guys (who tell these trainers that horses need more and more time between starts and have created this less is better approach). The BC is not at fault.

Yeah Jackson and Moss will be dying to run at Calder...

I do not understand why Sheriffs doesn't take any heat for not wanting to ship away from California.

But, maybe the NTRA/BC/NYRA can kick up some sort of incentive bonus to make the idea of Rachael vs Zenyatta come together. Have them race twice, once on both surfaces. The Ruffian at Belmont and then in the Distaff at Santa Anita (The schedule seems alright to set up for the BC). Obviously it only works if you get both horses to agree to enter both races (of course if they are both healthy). Figure out some sort of apperance fee and bonus purse structure if one horse or another wins both races. I'm not sure who else would want to run, but it would be open to all fillies. Then promote the hell out of it and hope that both horses are healthy enough to run both races. I know that would dash the hopes of everyone hoping she would run in the classic, but at least you would have the sports biggest star present on it's biggest day (Oh yeah, and you run the Distaff on Saturday).

Would showing the BC races in one hour Friday and Saturday nights on ESPN make anyone else happy? And, I thank Mr. Jackson for holding her out of the "event." Explaining this to casual fans makes them realize horseracing is not just about betting.
p.s. 6 posts about RA on that pop culture blog...about 2000 less than there were on Jessica Simpson. I'll take quality over quantity anyday.

Yeah, that is what they said about the Summit of Speed, which is in July. A $500,000 race in December would surely be offensive, especially if used to promote the hell out of Calder's new casino opening in January. How dumb.

What kind of mind just repeats the same crap over and over, incapable of even creating one original thought? Besides a parrot.

Boy am I glad that Jackson and Asmussen didn't wake up and see the rain and the track and scratch without seeing how the track would be come race time.

I have a hard time understanding how some of you pretty knowledgeable folks are so misguided. As someone else mentioned, Rachel is nowhere near as popular as Smarty Jones and Barbaro were and those two horses didn't bring them in in droves. What in the world makes people think Rachel would? For one, even if she were to run in the BC, 95% of the people that will be watching the races are already racing fans and were going to watch anyway. Just two years ago, Rags to Riches beat the Preakness winner in the Belmont. That was an historical achievement. How many came out to see her next race?

In a few more years, we'll have more horses that are bred with the purpose of being able to be good on synthetics and dirt. Right now, we don't have them. When Rachel and Zenyatta were bred, dirt was still king. They are dirt horses that are just so good that they can run well on synthetics but they are dirt horses. Anyone that uses Rachel's win in a nw2l allowance and says that proves she can handle synthetics is really reaching. Class won out that day. Nicanor won his first two on grass but does that mean he's up to beating Sea the Stars on it? Zenyatta and Rachel are both proven at the top level on one surface, dirt. That's where they should meet if they ever do. Of course, there's every chance that Rachel could flourish on synthetic and be just as good as she is on the dirt. But as much chance as there is, there's as much chance that she won't be. If they are to meet, it has to be in a race where neither has the surface question mark.