Wish I Could Have Seen....

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by Dunbar

That was the big one for me, except I'd want to add in Criminal Type, who had beaten each of them early in 1990, while getting a weight break.

What a laugher horse racing has become.

The Hollywood Gold Cup in June 1990 brought together the winners of the Santa Anita Handicap, the Met Mile, the Pimlico Special, the Oaklawn Handicap, the Gulfstream Park Handicap, the Californian, the San Bernardino, the San Antonio, the San Pasqual, and the Razorback. And we're not talking about past accomplishments. The races listed above were won in 1990.

For comparison, last year's Gold Cup brought together the winners of the San Pasqual and the Curlin Stakes (run at Meydan). Those were the only 2 wins recorded at all up to that point in 2020. Four of the six starters were winless in 2020.

A heartfelt thanks to all the super trainers, ex-claiming trainers, syndicates, racing managers, large ownership groups, and commercial breeding operations for eroding the competitive nature of the sport while keeping the prestige of these once major races on life support so that you can artificially prop up the initial stud fees of your stallion prospects for the first couple of seasons before you sell them off to foreign interests when they don't produce at the yearling sales.