Breeder's Cup affirms Santa Anita as site
 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 27, 2019) – After a meeting of and discussion with its Board of Directors today in Lexington, Ky., Breeders’ Cup Limited affirmed by unanimous decision its commitment to conduct the 2019 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. on November 1-2. This will mark the 10th time the event will be held at Santa Anita, the most of any host venue over the 36-year history of the Breeders’ Cup.

“Foremost among the core values of the Breeders’ Cup are the safety and integrity of the competition and we hold ourselves, our host sites and our competitors, to the highest standards of both. It is clear that meaningful and effective reforms and best practices have been implemented in recent months at Santa Anita through the collective efforts of The Stronach Group, the Thoroughbred Owners of California, the California Thoroughbred Trainers, and the California Horse Racing Board,” said Craig Fravel, President and CEO of the Breeders’ Cup. “We fully embrace those reforms and will devote our time and energy in the coming months to further advance those efforts. We look forward to showing the world the best in Thoroughbred racing at one of its finest venues.”

Thanks Steve! Need to buy my tickets this weekend. Does anyone know if the ticket options of Clockers Corner, Silks Lounge, or Marquee are any good? None are on the straight away but include beer/wine :D

Asking for trouble IMO.

So Dorf's horses are excluded? Guess they must be? They affirmed a site that banned a HoF trainer. Ok and now for something completely different...

Yeah the thing here is it’s all about optics, even if the surface is exactly where it needs to be by that time. If a horse breaks down without them changing venues, then it will be magnified big-time.

Of course. This is a public-relations crisis where, if something tragic happens, the public will know nothing except "Why did they run the Breeders' Cup at a place that was in the news for months straight because of dead horses?" and the Breeders' Cup will have no good answer for that. I understand the difficulty of changing venues, but I still find it ridiculous that they chose not to.

It is Nuts and I can't believe that Breeders Cup is rolling the dice here. Santa Anita needs to pitch a perfect game with no Training or Racing fatalities from now until the end of the Breeders cup otherwise they will get absolutely Crushed by the media..

From Matt Hegarty's DRF piece..

"During the track’s final weekend of racing, a horse trained by Jerry Hollendorfer was catastrophically injured while training, leading to a ban of undetermined length of the Hall of Fame trainer at both Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields. The ban was issued by The Stronach Group, which owns both tracks.

Fravel said that Breeders’ Cup will control the rules of entry for horses in its event, as is typical for all events held in the past, and he said that the organization has not yet made a decision on whether Hollendorfer would be allowed to enter any horses in its races.

“We aren’t going to pre-judge any entries until we know the circumstances prevailing at the time,” Fravel said."

People should factor into their evaluation of the decision the contractual elements involved and the possibility that the only practical alternative site was increasingly reticent about hosting. (Not to mention the devastating effect abandoning Santa Anita would have on the future of already tenuous racing interests in the state.)

Curious to know what the breakdown rate is at Churchill?
What would the reaction be if you move from SA because of breakdowns and then a horse breaks down at Churchill?

According to this NPR story, that's hard info to come by:
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/08/73089...-deaths-secret

There's going to be an uproar for any death at (or just before) this year's BC, no matter where it's held. But I agree with ateam that it's going to look all the worse if the fatality happens at Santa Anita, the track that's been at the center of almost all recent media attention.

Highly publicized CJ piece (attack) from May: https://www.courier-journal.com/stor...es/3284846002/

43 since 2016, a 2.42 per 1,000-start (50 percent higher than the national average during the same three-year span).

Last year, 16 in 5,856 starts: 2.73 per 1,000.