Three New BC Races

[King Glorious]

Before they started the F/M Turf, there were quite a few female turf runners that ran in and did pretty well in the open turf events. Included on that list are such runners as Miesque, Ridgewood Pearl, Estrapade, Miss Alleged and Hatoof. So they more than proved that they could hold their own in the open events, which the Europeans pretty much knew anyway because they don't hold the same reservations as Americans do when it comes to racing females against males. But there were also several that would skip the BC because they didn't want to take on that big a challenge and would instead point to a later race like the Matriarch. A horse like Discreet Cat may have missed the BC altogether if there was no Dirt Mile this year. Some might argue that these new races dilute the fields. I don't think they do. I think that the prime contenders for most races will still go in the races they were contenders for. No horse is going to skip the $5 million Classic for the $1 million Dirt Mile or $500k Marathon if they are a prime contender for the bigger purse. I'm ok with adding more races that don't take away from the other races because it increases the chances that more of the stars of the game will be present. I wonder if having a Dirt Mile in 1994 would have brought Holy Bull to the BC? A BC with him there, even in the Dirt Mile instead of the Classic, would have been better than it was not having him there at all.

[blackthroatedwind]

You're forgetting that Holy Bull wasn't nominated and for that reason he skipped the BC as both a 2YO and 3YO. In fact, he concluded his 2YO season in one of the Calder Stakes, the In Reality.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

You're forgetting that Holy Bull wasn't nominated and for that reason he skipped the BC as both a 2YO and 3YO. In fact, he concluded his 2YO season in one of the Calder Stakes, the In Reality.

That's right. I had forgotten about that. I still wonder though if maybe a little more consideration would have been given to it at the end of his 3yo season, seeing how good he had become. I think that had he gone as a 2yo, he would have still been second choice to Dehere and possibly even third choice. I don't know how much the purse was for the In Reality was back then (I believe it's $400k now) but the odds were much more in his favor to collect that winning check than if he had gone to the Juvenile. As a 3yo, he would have been the overwhelming favorite and for a much bigger purse had he gone to the Classic so I'm not sure if his not being nominated was the sole reason or if the fact that I don't think Croll ever felt that 10f was his best distance PLUS they would have had to pay to do it, is what kept him out.

[blackthroatedwind]

It was actually a $400K race back then.

He wasn't going in any BC as a 3YO. He ended his year with the Woodward and didn't even go to the Jockey Club Gold Cup ( which was an even weaker field that the Woodward ). If he wanted to run in a big Mile race he could have gone in the, then, NYRA Mile.....where at least that day he would have had trouble beating Cigar.

[Riot]

That argument is settled....or perhaps you didn't see the fields for the races this year.

Settled? I'm still waiting to measure exactly what the impact of three new Friday races this year had on Saturday.

See the fields? I posted the fields for 2007, above. Waiting on more than one comment, and I would seriously like to hear yours.

What horses out of the below five races do you think left the Saturday races for Friday (they had to be eligible for Saturday), and what race did they end up in on Friday, instead?

F & M turf - 12 entries - 14 allowed
Distaff - 12 entries - 14 allowed
Sprint - 11 entries - 14 allowed
Turf - 8 entries - 14 allowed
Classic - 9 entries - 14 allowed