BTW,
I agree with all of your points quite well and I think in a way the BC Committee might not have taken all of those thoughts into consideration.
The Juvenile Turf race for example, if any of you bet either the Pilgrim or Miss Grillo on closing weekend at Belmont you'd know that the fields were pretty lackluster. Almost all the horses had just broken their maidens and the races were somewhat inscrutable. It wasn't until a race like the Laurel Futurity in late November that these 2 YOs developed some kind of turf "form." Now, I'm assuming NYRA, SoCal, and Kentucky will move up the pace with which they let 2YOs run on the grass. Normally you don't see a 2YO grasser at Belmont in the spring longer than 6 furlongs, I guess we're gonna have to see those at a mile, that way at Saratoga you can continue it to 1 1/16 so that there's some build up to the race.
The Mile race to me would be incredible if every BC host track could accomodate a one-turn mile. Unfortunately, of the regular host tracks the only ones that can are Belmont and Churchill. Arlington and Gulfstream can also, but I don't think either can be considered regular host tracks right now. So we get a bargain at a mile and 70 this year.
I'm trying to think about who would have been in some of these races this year if they had had them and the F&M Sprint is a real question mark. I come up with Malibu Mint, Dubai Escapade, everyone from the First Flight on the same day at Aqueduct, all in all what would seem like an average field.
I guess I like change, but personally I get frustrated with the selection of host tracks (and I worked at Lone Star in 2004) because the rotation in my opinion should just be Belmont, Churchill, SA. Tracks where the distances all work, except of course this new mile race at SA, but also where the biggest races are run all year and where the crowds can fit. I went to Monmouth for the first time this year and while I liked it, all I can say is good luck to anyone who's gonna brave the late October Jersey shore weather in that obviously summertime racetrack.
Sorry for the rambling and welcome to the board for me!
NT
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