Venue thoughts for September 12

[JolyB]

Originally Posted by RUFFIAN-333

I was just wondering why the big Million Dollar Race = Turf Cup
is not the last race on the card ..... but the sprint is?

No need to be confused. The answer varies.

Doesn't that generally depend upon the preferences of the track's Racing Secretary? He is the one who writes the condition book, takes the entries, and then assembles the card. It has been my experience that on many occasions the feature race is not the final one on the card, but the next to last one. That allows a lower quality race as the "getaway" race, perhaps harkening back to when people actually went to the races, and trying to ease the traffic flow at the end of the race day. Much of the need for that has changed, for better or worse, with the advent of simulcasting. Another possible reason for this is the desire to maximize the handle on wagers like the late pick 4, 5 and the pick 6. So many stakes races have smallish fields, and the track management would much rather have such wagers end with a race with a very full field in which the outcome is unpredictable - that leads to larger pick something tickets. So, the final race might be a maiden claimer or the like.

A major exception to that generality exists when TV coverage is involved. When that happens, it is usually the TV network that calls the shots and tells the host track when their races need to be run. That probably explains why you have expected the finale to be the feature [as it was in the Travers or on Derby Day].