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Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind
I think there should be some validity to what you are saying, and perhaps this race will encourage trainers who believe they ACTUALLY have a turf horse to get it ready sooner...as for the most part what we see now are trainers running 2YOs on the turf because they are too slow for dirt races ( and usually end up too slow for the turf as well ). But, here's a problem, exactly who are the special US turf horses we have seen in the last ten years? Yes, lately we had a couple nice ones in Kitten's Joy and Artie Schiller ( and actually Barbaro ) but overall it is a VERY thin division with absolutely no depth of true quality even when we get into their 3YO years. This is theoretically a CHAMPIONSHIP event but this race is really one for lesser quality and just another chance for breeders to get fake black typing.
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You are right that there aren't that many special US turf horses. Hopefully the addition of this race will help put more focus on the turf and make breeding for turf be a little more profitable and lead to more special turf horses. Between the addition of this race, the Grand Slam of Grass, and the ability to run on polytrack there are suddenly a lot more reasons to breed and/or buy a turf horse.