Results of Six Major Stakes Around the World

Plus Highly Questionable Additions to the Breeders' Cup

A Column by Steve Davidowitz
December 12, 2007

The six stakes races of major importance last weekend included three rich stakes in Hong Kong, plus Sunriver's well-earned, wire-to-wire score in the $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup (G1); Z Humor and Turf War's dead heat in the $1 million Delta Jackpot (G3) at Delta Downs; and Evening Attire's remarkable victory as a 9-year-old in the $100,000 Queen's County Handicap at Aqueduct. The importance of the American races can be summed up as follows:

* If kept in training as a 5-year-old in 2008, Sunriver is going to be a formidable turf horse at distances from 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 miles.

* Z Humor and Turf War each earned $400,000 for their dead heat win to guarantee them starting spots in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, which seems rather unfair to horses who will be competing for such spots as 3-year-olds in 2008. Fair or not, starting Derby spots are based on graded stakes earnings, even graded earnings from overly inflated 2-year-old stakes at minor tracks.

* Evening Attire's win was testament to his durability and the extremely popular PR value of keeping hard-trying horses in training. As a gelding, Evening Attire has no stud career to pull him away from the track, and his connections say he will be back as a 10-year-old in 2008, seeking perhaps another victory in the Queen's County. Believe it or not, Evening Attire won this same stakes race in 2001 when he was a 3-year-old!

Across the Pacific Ocean, the most notable of three Hong Kong races was the $1.8 million Hong Kong Vase, impressively won by 3-year-old Doctor Dino over well-traveled Quijano, with European Horse of the Year Dylan Thomas a distant seventh. Doctor Dino, winner of the Man o' War Stakes at Belmont Park in October, turned in his career best performance in this contest, while Dylan Thomas went to stud with consecutive poor efforts in the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf and this international event. Apparently he was way over the top after winning the prestigious Prix de L'Arc deTriomphe at Longchamps two months ago.

The other races of import at Sha Tin were the $2.5 million Hong Kong Cup, won by Godolphin Stables Ramonti, and the $1.5 million Hong Kong Sprint, won convincingly by Hong Kong-based Sacred Kingdom.

Ramonti, a proven miler, showed a new dimension winning the 1 1/4-mile Hong Kong Cup as if he will be a major factor in the $6 million Dubai World Cup on his home course - Nad Al Sheba - next March. Sacred Kingdom won his six-furlong race in 1:08.40, a clocking that would make him dangerous against top-flight American-based sprinters on dirt or turf.

Those results notwithstanding, the biggest racing story of the week was the announcement by Breeders' Cup officials on Monday, December 10th that three new races have been added to the Breeders' Cup card for Friday, October 25th, 2008 at Santa Anita. These races will be added to the three that were unveiled this year at Monmouth Park. All six will serve as the prelude to the traditional eight Breeders' Cup races on Saturday, October 26th, 2008.

The three new races are:

* The $1 million Turf Sprint for 3-year-olds and up that will be run on the 6 1/2-furlong downhill turf course at Santa Anita and perhaps at 6 furlongs at future venues.

* The $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf, to be run at one mile with 12 maximum starters as a companion race to the $1 million Juvenile Turf, which was introduced this year.

* The $500,000 Breeders' Cup Marathon for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/2 miles on the dirt.

As stated, Breeders' Cup already expanded this year's Friday card to include three new $1 million races (the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf; the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint; and the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile). But that has not stopped many fans from questioning the motive for adding more races.

Said one ardent racing fan in an email on December 11th: "They know they have a captive audience who, for the most part, already was going to attend Friday's races. Now, with these added BC races which have less importance (than the Saturday races), they have license to charge three or four times the usual price for seats on Friday."

Adding my own criticism to this fan's point of view, it is hard to justify some of the new races without seeing a negative impact on existing Breeders' Cup events.

For example, even though no top-flight European juveniles were seen at Monmouth Park this year, the new Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf weakened the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile by a few legit contenders. Now, with two juvenile turf races, the chances are diminished that any top-flight Euro 2-year-old will be entered against our best in the traditional Breeders' Cup Juvenile races.

I wonder if we have seen the last high-quality European performer finish in the top three positions in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile races on dirt. Had these two new Juvenile turf races been in existence in the 1990s, does anyone believe we would have seen the ultra-talented Johannesburg and/or Arazi defeat top-flight American-based 2-year-olds in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile? If their connections had bothered to send them to America to run in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, what would that have proved?

Without question, the respective Breeders' Cup Juvenile victories by Arazi and Johannesburg established their world-class credentials and stamped them as the best European-based 2-year-olds in the Breeders' Cup era.

Another example: The $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint may have been an exciting race on its own merits, but it took away a few potential contenders from the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint. Indeed, there is little chance in the future that our highest quality female sprinters will run against male rivals in the richer Breeders' Cup Sprint. That is too bad for future Breeders' Cup fans who will no longer get to see the great performances of fillies and mares such as Safely Kept, Xtra Heat, and Meafara, who did exceptionally well in such competition without having an easier spot to fall back on.

Still another example: The newly created $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile was won decisively by Corinthian with a Beyer Speed Figure of 119 - a superior Beyer Figure that matched the number earned by $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic winner Curlin. While I would never argue that Corinthian would have defeated Curlin in the Classic, it is absolutely certain that he was a worthy contender who was kept out of the Classic to dominate a weaker field in the Dirt Mile.

With that background, the other two new Breeders' Cup races for 2008 (in addition to the previously discussed Juvenile Fillies Turf) offer only modest value in the overall scheme of Breeders' Cup racing.

The $1 million Turf Sprint might succeed in attracting some European sprinters who are at a disadvantage running against our best on dirt, but the $500,000 Marathon at 1 1/2 miles is a potentially weak event with a substandard purse that begs to be criticized on several counts.

First, no Breeders' Cup race should be carded with a purse under $1 million. By doing so, the Breeders' Cup is advertising a substandard event.

Second, the argument offered by Breeders' Cup officials that the 1 1/2-mile distance will help keep some horses in training has no standing with modern realities when horses are retired after winning Grade 1 stakes as soon as they reach the end of their 3-year-old season. The Breeders' Cup Committee is fooling itself if it believes that some horses worth millions will be held out of stud contracts to run in a 1 1/2-mile race for a purse that is half the usual Breeders' Cup minimum and one-tenth the purse of the 1 1/4-mile Breeders' Cup Classic.

Frankly, I believe in the idea of 1 1/2-mile races as a way to improve the stamina of the modern Thoroughbred. I also believe that the nation's most prestigious 1 1/2-mile race - the Belmont Stakes - is as advertised: The Test of the (3-year-old) Champion. For these reasons, it has always seemed unfortunate that the Breeders' Cup Committee did not realize the need for a 12-furlong Breeders' Cup Classic when the original concept was set up in 1984.

It is too bad that no one in the Breeders' Cup family is willing to push the distance of the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic to 1 1/2 miles. If they did, there would be no need to create a substandard 1 1/2-mile race and there definitely would be companion efforts throughout the country to extend distances of several important Grade 1 stakes.

In the meantime, the sudden creation of the 1 1/2-mile Breeders' Cup 'Marathon' at $500,000 is hardly likely to inspire anything more than a relatively weak field while depleting the Breeders' Cup Classic still further by removing one or two longshot contenders.

So now we have six Friday races and the traditional eight Saturday races - and we will learn to live with that arrangement.

But in my judgment, the Breeders' Cup organization and those who look forward to betting on it - wherever it is held - would be better off if there was one single day of 10 or 11 races, with an affordable Friday card filled with Grade 3 and Grade 2 events worth $250,000 apiece.

History says that expansion for expansion's sake is usually a mistake, no matter where or when it occurs. History also says that such expansion eventually waters down any product and lowers the novelty of any special event.

Stating this in the words of another disappointed email correspondent: "The Breeders' Cup is getting awfully high on itself thinking that anything it does will receive unilateral support and praise."

Steve Davidowitz has written two highly acclaimed books on Thoroughbred racing---Betting Thoroughbreds and The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing. He also is a regular contributor to Daily Racing Form's Simulcast Weekly and DRF Plus and his columns appear in the Bodog Racebook each week.