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Originally Posted by King Glorious
I'd like to ask you two questions:
1. If they changed it to 9f, 9.5f, and 10f and made it the first Saturday in May, Memorial Day, and the Fourth of July........would you stop watching? Do you think that any people who are already fans would stop watching?
2. Do you think that the general public, those that aren't racing fans but that tune in for the TC races and have a chance to get turned on to the game, do you think that they actually know the conditions of the races? Would the Derby not still be a social event if it was 9f when 90% of the people that are watching don't even know what a furlong is?
I'd be willing to bet that most people don't know what a furlong is, don't know where the races are held, don't know the distances, and don't know how many previous TC winners there have been. Changing the TC races wouldn't bother them in the least bit. The only people that would know that the conditions aren't the same would be racing fans and even a lot of those that you see at the tracks and otb's around the country don't even know the conditions and wouldn't know if you changed them. And Kasept is telling us that we shouldn't compare the horses of today to those of yesterday anyway so why do we need to keep running them under the same conditions? Why not change the conditions and just love and admire the new winners for what they are and comparisons to past champions isn't important?
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to answer your first question, people would still watch the world series if it was five games. or basketball if it was shortened. but i'd imagine they'd feel the change was not for the better and that they had been possibly cheated of two games.
as for your second point, why would changing the distance do any more to increase fan base than what the distances are now? what does measuring a furlong have to do with drawing viewership? also, having races close together like they are now doesn't allow the event to dim in our relatively short memories. you drag out the series, you lose the drama, hype and excitement.
exactly what do you feel would be accomplished by making these changes to shorter distances and greater spacing? a horse who is a success would be just as valuable to breeders as they are now, the purses would still be too small to make it worthwhile to race rather than breed, and any minor injury would still necessitate retirement, as risk would still outweigh possible rewards in returning a horse to the track.