Derby replaces graded earnings with point system

[MaTH716]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

I've been thinking about the silliness of this new system for the last few days. Envision the horse who breaks his maiden impressively at DMR, takes the Del Mar Futurity second out, and wins the Norfolk with ease in his third start (10 points). The horse racing world would be buzzing about said horse. Horse has a minor fever and is held out of the Breeders Cup, but is well enough to come back and run a very game second in the Cashcall Futurity (four points). After a freshening, the same horse comes back and airs in the Robert B. Lewis (10 more points), but has all kinds of trouble and ends up fourth in Santa Anita Derby (10 points).

After all of that, this horse would have easily made the Derby under the old system, but under the new system, he's very much a fringe candidate. And for the casual fan who just happened to catch the maiden breaker at DMR and as a result has been following the horse into his 3YO career, it would be difficult to explain why such a clearly talented animal is missing the field.

I'm going to need a cheat sheet to understand Derby entry come 2013.

The hell with the cheat sheet for getting in, get a crystal ball to figure out who's going to bleed and run up the track.

[slotdirt]

Even if it's a 30 point threshold, there are plenty of scenarios where a horse wins a couple of 10 point races in the late winter and misses the Derby. But hey, the Louisiana Derby is worth 100 points, so it's all good. Friesan Fire will be psyched.

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

Even if it's a 30 point threshold, there are plenty of scenarios where a horse wins a couple of 10 point races in the late winter and misses the Derby. But hey, the Louisiana Derby is worth 100 points, so it's all good. Friesan Fire will be psyched.

Afleet Alex, who came out of the Rebel with a lung infection - was saved by quick healing and a game win in the Ark Derby, otherwise he doesn't make the KD field under this system - his Sanford (track record graded stakes win) and his win in the Hopeful mean exactly squat. Don't mean to keep going back to this, but it really is going to be a shame that these prestigious 2yo races now have zero value on the derby trail.

[slotdirt]

I get that they want to move away from sprint races earning Derby entrance, but the Hopeful was won by pretty much every historically great horse that's run on dirt in this country.

[10 pnt move up]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

I get that they want to move away from sprint races earning Derby entrance, but the Hopeful was won by pretty much every historically great horse that's run on dirt in this country.

Really? Every?

[slotdirt]

Secretariat, Affirmed, Buckpasser, Native Dancer, Needles, Nashua, Man o' War, Regret, Devil Diver, Whirlaway, General Assembly, Foolish Pleasure, Timely Writer, Hail to Reason, Sun Briar, etc. It's a pretty freaking impressive list.

[Travis Stone]

I've been thinking...

Horse A wins for fun at Saratoga, but loses a really tight head-bob in the Champagne and then is scratched in the paddock for the BC Juvenile because the groom put on the wrong smock.

So said horse is shipped to NY and runs a valiant, but troubled fourth, in the Remsen. The trainer decides to freshen him up and he comes back in the Holy Bull, but draws the outside post and is hung wide all the way around and fades late. So they decide to try the Florida Derby, but an out-of-season hurricane forces the Florida Derby to be moved to Tampa (It spun up the East Coast) where this horse just hates that particular surface and again fades.

Fearing point cut-off, they fly to Lexington for the Lexington only this time it rains so hard earlier in the week they have to move the race to the turf because the Polytrack drainage system backed-up.

Well, as you can imagine, this horse is not a turf horse and he only uses his raw class and talent to run a decent fourth and is simply on the outside looking in for points.

Ridiculous story? You bet. But it's also ridiculous to play fortune teller with this stuff and forecast all sorts of crazy, weird and fringe circumstances. The rules have changed. Time to adjust.

Yes, the BC Juvenile should be worth more points and the Illinois Derby should be on there somewhere too. "Graded stakes earnings" wasn't necessarily broken, but with the influx of purses from Delta Downs and beyond, it was becoming silly.

I also don't get applying this new system to the past. That's like saying x team would have won the Super Bowl if the two point conversion had existed, or visa-versa. It doesn't apply anymore.

It's not a perfect system, but luckily they didn't write it into Kentucky State law and can adjust as necessary.

[10 pnt move up]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

Secretariat, Affirmed, Buckpasser, Native Dancer, Needles, Nashua, Man o' War, Regret, Devil Diver, Whirlaway, General Assembly, Foolish Pleasure, Timely Writer, Hail to Reason, Sun Briar, etc. It's a pretty freaking impressive list.

I just don't think every great dirt horse in this country has won that race as you stated. I can think of quite a few actually who never even started at Saratoga.