Derby replaces graded earnings with point system

[slotdirt]

I've been thinking about the silliness of this new system for the last few days. Envision the horse who breaks his maiden impressively at DMR, takes the Del Mar Futurity second out, and wins the Norfolk with ease in his third start (10 points). The horse racing world would be buzzing about said horse. Horse has a minor fever and is held out of the Breeders Cup, but is well enough to come back and run a very game second in the Cashcall Futurity (four points). After a freshening, the same horse comes back and airs in the Robert B. Lewis (10 more points), but has all kinds of trouble and ends up fourth in Santa Anita Derby (10 points).

After all of that, this horse would have easily made the Derby under the old system, but under the new system, he's very much a fringe candidate. And for the casual fan who just happened to catch the maiden breaker at DMR and as a result has been following the horse into his 3YO career, it would be difficult to explain why such a clearly talented animal is missing the field.

I'm going to need a cheat sheet to understand Derby entry come 2013.