Santa Anita renames G1s

Merlinsky · #1 07-13-2012, 03:21 PM

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/nat...ta-stakes.aspx

Yeah, so I thought sanity had prevailed, but nope, the Lady's Secret is once again the Zenyatta. A lot of changes were made following break with Oak Tree but still, eh. Poor Ancient Title. I guess being a Hall of Famer isn't good enough these days. I suppose if Lady's Secret gets no respect, why stop there? Thoughts on renaming the Morvich (to the Eddie D)? He was a 2yo champ and Derby winner after all. Couldn't they have done another race related to Oak Tree if they want to honor Eddie? I knew he was getting honored that way, I just didn't catch what was getting renamed.

Here's a full list: http://www.drf.com/news/santa-anita-...ak-tree-stakes Goldikova gets a race.

OTM Al · #2 07-13-2012, 03:39 PM

Wonder what happens at Goodwood with the Oak Tree Stakes.

Calzone Lord · #3 07-13-2012, 03:43 PM

Holy Sh!t!

They re-named the Goodwood Stakes the Awesome Again Stakes?

Awesome Again never even raced at Santa Anita in his entire career.

Calzone Lord · #4 07-13-2012, 03:48 PM

Quote:

"This has been an important process for all of us involved with live racing here at Santa Anita," said Rick Hammerle, Santa Anita Vice President of Racing. "We did a lot of research and tried hard to make sure each name had a tangible meaning, either geographically, historically, or culturally. We feel good about the new names

That is funny.

Either Stronach himself wanted a race named after his star Awesome Again, or some weasal made it happen to suck up to his boss.

Conrad · #5 07-13-2012, 03:56 PM

Now Del Mar has a race named the Yellow Ribbon?
Confusion reigns in the land of nuts-n-berries

Calzone Lord · #6 07-13-2012, 04:02 PM

It seemed utterly pointless to change the names of these races in the first place.

Nice to see they honored Rodeo Drive, though.

I guess they had to compete with Betfair Hollywood Park (track symbol BHP)

Danzig · #7 07-13-2012, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Holy Sh!t!

They re-named the Goodwood Stakes the Awesome Again Stakes?

Awesome Again never even raced at Santa Anita in his entire career.

easy way to get the name recognition out there without having to pay ala the cliff's edge derby trial.

Calzone Lord · #8 07-13-2012, 04:09 PM

The Cliff's Edge at least won a couple of Graded Stakes races at Churchill Downs and competed in the Kentucky Derby as a morning line favorite over Smarty Jones.

If they wanted to honor Stronach ... his Milwaukee Brew is one of just 3 horses in history to win 2 Santa Anita Handicaps (John Henry and Lava Man the other two)

Renaming the Goodwood the Milwaukee Brew would have at least made sense.

Renaming the Goodwood after Awesome Again makes about as much sense as Belmont Park naming a race after Zenyatta.

Indian Charlie · #9 07-13-2012, 04:16 PM

It's nice they named a race after a great Doors song!

10 pnt move up · #10 07-13-2012, 04:37 PM

I don't believe they had a choice though, Oak Tree had rights to the names of the races, though these names defy logic.

#11 07-13-2012, 04:47 PM

Eddie Logan had a race named after him so that pretty much set the bar

Merlinsky · #12 07-13-2012, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10 pnt move up

I don't believe they had a choice though, Oak Tree had rights to the names of the races, though these names defy logic.

They couldn't have all the naming rights though. I mean the Lady's Secret? Monmouth has one albeit ungraded and Rachel won it. It's not like Oak Tree is able to transfer the G1. The race at SA retains it. Would've been nice if the Mosses could've asked them to reconsider which race got renamed.

10 pnt move up · #13 07-13-2012, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

They couldn't have all the naming rights though. I mean the Lady's Secret? Monmouth has one albeit ungraded and Rachel won it. It's not like Oak Tree is able to transfer the G1. The race at SA retains it. Would've been nice if the Mosses could've asked them to reconsider which race got renamed.

Someone smarter than me would need to ask the legal questions, I just remember reading it could be an issue over a year ago.

Danzig · #14 07-13-2012, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

The Cliff's Edge at least won a couple of Graded Stakes races at Churchill Downs and competed in the Kentucky Derby as a morning line favorite over Smarty Jones.

If they wanted to honor Stronach ... his Milwaukee Brew is one of just 3 horses in history to win 2 Santa Anita Handicaps (John Henry and Lava Man the other two)

Renaming the Goodwood the Milwaukee Brew would have at least made sense.

Renaming the Goodwood after Awesome Again makes about as much sense as Belmont Park naming a race after Zenyatta.

i agree with everything you say...but i don't think it's to honor stronach, probably just to remind people that awesome again is still around (50k at adena!). no such thing as bad p.r. and all that.
besides, you have the man o war, on turf. man o war never ran on turf.

Merlinsky · #15 07-13-2012, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10 pnt move up

Someone smarter than me would need to ask the legal questions, I just remember reading it could be an issue over a year ago.

Yeah, somebody's gotta know the deal on that. I assume stuff specifically named after Oak Tree (e.g. the song 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree' is probably responsible for that race) would be the ones they're more likely to have a legal issue with. Even if there wasn't, I can understand not wanting to continue to promote things related to a group you're no longer associated with. It's sad if you have a sense of tradition, but I guess I get it.

I'm pretty sure everybody waits til Steve goes on vacation for stuff to hit the fan. His week is gonna be swamped when he gets back. He may not want to get into all of it, but off the top of my head, besides the usual race results and picks, we've had things like Holy Bull's pensioning, elaboration by Reddam on I'll Have Another, the Asmussen mares, Union Rags injury, the Santa Anita race renaming, the continued shenanigans of the NY Times, the Senate committee hearing, Albarado and the implications of his legal situation, and Caleb's Posse's retirement.

skyfire · #16 07-13-2012, 07:38 PM

Stronach and his organization are bush leaque, as are their new names: the Chandelier, are you kidding? Awesome Again? What alot of great memories that name brings....Rodeo Drive? Fabulous racing connection. Stronach and his minions are ruining the class and

tradition of Oak Tree and Santa Anita. What would it cost to keep the names? Some donation to charity?

Calzone Lord · #17 07-13-2012, 07:43 PM

I don't think it does anything to ruin the class or tradition of Santa Anita racing.

It just shows that they can't even do a good job at something as simple as naming stakes races.

Naming a Grade 1 race for a horse who never even raced at your track is nuts. Especially when so many great ones have competed at Santa Anita and don't have a race named for them.

I'm fine with naming stakes The Rodeo Drive, The L. A Woman, and the Chandelier ... they want to be pretentious ... and those are pretentious names for stakes races.

Cannon Shell · #18 07-13-2012, 09:08 PM

They named a race after the filly Chandelier?

I dont think she ever won a stake

#19 07-13-2012, 09:12 PM

Why not sell the name of the race to sponsors. They do it for the Breeders Cup, Kentucky Derby why not other grade 1 races. Derbytrail.com stakes

GPK · #20 07-13-2012, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by helicopter11

Why not sell the name of the race to sponsors. They do it for the Breeders Cup, Kentucky Derby why not other grade 1 races. Derbytrail.com stakes

A stakes race for dated nickels? Really?