Farewell to The Ohio Derby

[Suffolk Shippers]

Originally Posted by Ogygian

That is good to hear...I have a question though...wouldn't it be better to cut a few days off the meet, maybe have bigger fields, then use that purse money from the days the track isn't running to run the Ohio Derby. How often do they actually cancel a stakes race, then bring it back?

I think the best parallel for you to look at is the Pimlico Special or the Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs. Both PIM and SUF have cancelled these signature races intermittently through out the last ten years and brought them back when they felt they could.

In the 2000's, SUF has run the Mass Cap in 2000-2002, off in 2003, back in 2004, off in 2005 and 2006, and back for 2007 and 2008. Of course, you lose the races graded status after it's been off for awhile. I believe the Mass Cap is back at GIII this year. So, it's more common than you think.

The last few editions of the Mass Cap have been enjoyable, it's always nice to see better quality flesh run on the grounds. However, like Steve said, it's essentially just a money grab for out of towners. The local strings really can't compete with them...for example, last year Zito won two of the big races on Mass Cap day (at least), and some other non-Suffolk trainers shipped in to grab the money, like Anthony Dutrow and others.

Eliminating these money grab races at lower level tracks once in awhile preserves the money in the modest purses the local strings run for, and it's done more as an appreciation to the local horseman in leaner times. The tracks know they would be nothing without the local strings that patronize year to year. It's better to keep those folks happy and afloat and use the $500,000 worth of purses from an Ohio Derby, Mass Cap, Pim Special, etc to buoy the local purses instead from time to time.