4/23-24 (KEE): Lex, Ben Ali (G3's), Giant's Causeway; Dowager

[philcski]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

The Blue Grass, Lexington and Ben Ali no longer serve any purpose as graded events. Keeneland should be embarrassed by the fields in these once important races.

Polytrack = junk

Not even bettable races. Just go with the Kitten horse.

[Merlinsky]

The problem with reading some horse names in print for a long time and seldom hearing them spoken is that you have one pronunciation in your head and another may actually be correct. I still don't see how I'm missing the Ben Ali.

I kept hearing Ben Ah-LIE when the owner that the 19th century Derby winner is named after was of Turkish ancestry, and the name's Arabic. Is it not pronounced Ben Ah-LEE like Mohammad Ali? Did it used to be pronounced that way but the sport basically says it Ah-LIE now, and I would get weird looks for saying it the other way around more seasoned horse racing people?

Since I heard it on NTRA Live today during talk about pedigree, Miswaki's another one. They said, and I've always said Miswaki as Miz-WAH-kee. Just to clarify that is correct, and it's not Miz-WACK-ee right? I'm just trying to make sure I've not been botching it for years. I went awhile getting Dr. Fager's name wrong before I finally heard it spoken out loud on tv.

[jms62]

Originally Posted by philcski

Polytrack = junk

Not even bettable races. Just go with the Kitten horse.

Keeneland used to be very relevant for Derby and Breeders Cup Preps. Now its just Breeders Cup Turf preps. They really should consider going back to dirt. I am tired of being eaten alive by Kittens.

[Danzig]

doesn't keeneland own the company that installed their surface? they're part owner of turfway, it's the same surface there isn't it? i don't know that they'll change as long as they're wanting to attempt to push their brand of poly.
plus, i doubt the graded stakes committee is going to take anything away from that historic track, as irrelevant as the preps may be to the derby. they are still relevant to other races.

[hockey2315]

Yes, Keeneland owns Polytrack. Did anyone see what was basically a Polytrack informercial w/ Nick Nicholson and Todd Schrupp on TVG yesterday? Even if they realize the surface is a joke, they're going down with the ship.