Derby Trail Forums - Would the Travers get more entries if Run On Sept 1

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- - Would the Travers get more entries if Run On Sept 1 (http://www.derbytrail.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16534)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danzig

you will find that many races, including the ky derby and preakness, have had a variety of dates that they've been run over the last 100-odd years. also, think back to the glory days of hialeah for instance... who would have thought back then that there would be no more flamingo stakes? things change.

You are correct about that, but I see no reason to change the date of the Travers. If it were moved a week later, then it would be too close to the JCGC. Obviously, the BC has changed the landscape for 3YO's. I just can't agree that AGS, and especially Curlin, were ducking SS.

pletcher is no dummy, and has made quite a fortune for himself and his owners by properly placing his many horses. he will put them in the best spot for a check, a graded win, and for future deals--that worked perfectly for him and others with any given saturday. call it what you will, or not, but it wouldn't be the first time he ducked a horse. look at the belmont, he didn't duck any one horse, but certainly was NOT going to have one of his horses face off with the top three finishers from the derby. he planned for the haskell, and it paid off nicely for him. had street sense declared from the travers, he may well have waited a week for that rather than go in the haskell. of course that's all speculation.
but i have NO doubt, had street sense skipped the travers (which was a distinct possibility) that he would have had a horse in there.
as for the jcgc, there are other opportunities to face older horses. that race imo isn't as big a deterrent as the haskell as far as getting a good field for the travers.

The date of the Travers will never be changed to the closing weekend as the number of NYRA staff drops day by day after the Travers as most of the college kids head back to school and a lot of the High School kids take the closing weekend off to have a break before school begins.

I believe the Chamber of Commerce says that capacity in the town is reached only at Travers weekend and is about 130,000 which includes residents' (28,000 population), 38,000 or so at the track-a fair number of whom will be one of the locals and so at least 65,000+ tourists milling around town.

The Travers is at a classic distance, 10f; the Haskell is at a miler distance, 9f. There are a lot of decent milers who can stretch to 9f and win, but very few of the class to stretch out to 10f against top stayers. With the preponderance of miler-breds in the breed today (and potential stallion managers afraid that their stallion will be tabbed a 'plodder' if they win too many longer races). the appeal of a 9f race for the same purse is clear.