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Originally Posted by smuthg
Steve, I'm not familiar with this... what's the cliffnote's version of this story. thanks.
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Barry Weisbord, (Successful and innovative Breeder-Owner; Safely Kept; Thoroughbred Daily News;
Trakus; many other successful ventures; generally the smartest guy in any room), conceived and developed the American Championship Racing Series which commenced in 1991 and lasted till 1993. The idea was to use the handicap division races from Spring to Fall as a point-earning 'season' leading up to the BC. He worked tirelessly with ABC and the tracks creating the concept, getting TV coverage commitments and sponsors. 20 years ago, he basically crafted the EXACT thing the Breeders Cup says they now need for season-long continuity and to improve the familiarity of the public with the ultimate Cup participants...
Here's a blurb from Andy Beyer's 1993 piece about the ACRS:
Weisbord's idea was an innovative one: tie together some of the nation's top stakes races as part of a series and give a lucrative bonus award to the horses who performed best throughout the year. He wanted to foster rivalries that would make horse racing more interesting for television. He wanted to stimulate fans' interest in races from far-flung parts of the country. And the idea worked.
The idea worked and may have been on its' way toward becoming a BC-like institution until Cella, resentful of the meddling of an ethnic New York interloper and dragged into participation by the other major tracks to begin with, began working to undermine the concept. It unraveled as California began its' provincial concerns about horses leaving the state when they could race year-round on the SA-HOL-DMR circuit and ultimately withdrew, and ABC began to annoyed when they couldn't wrestle the BC contract away from NBC. But Cella, the great promoter of racing, was largely responsible for 'poisoning the well' of the whole program.