Penn. Derby now a $1mill. race
 

I wonder what kind of affect this is going to have on The Travers with the Penn. Derby to be ran on Labor Day. With the Breeders Cup already affecting field sizes throughout the year and the prestige of other races, The Travers now finds itself sandwiched in between two one million dollar races for 3yr olds The Haskell and now the Penn Derby.

Haskell and Travers are what, like two or three weeks apart? Bluegrass Cat ran both last year, Roman Ruler ran both the year before. I don't think the Haskell has any effect on field size for the Travers. There are plenty of pricey races for 3YO's around that time - the PA Derby, WV Derby, etc. - but the Travers will always still be the Travers.

True but what concerns me is how trainers love spacing between races and it has been a concern in the past of running horses in both the Haskell and the Travers being three weeks apart and now with the PA Derby a million dollars and a week after the Travers, that gives them the 4 weeks they like in between races.
The Travers will always be The Travers but in this day of The Breeders Cup, prestigious races have taken their hits in favor of spacing between races and when a race is a million dollars, they could start to overlook the Travers.

I have a great memory of the PA Derby in 1991 when eventual winner Macho Uno knocked down a fence in the paddock to get to the lone female entered in the race. His name really fits him. She ran second. I cannot remember her name, but I think she is a daughter of Unbridled.:)

God bless the slots.

Wasn't that Valley Crossing who won that year? which paid $158.60. Ridden by Andrea Seefeldt ?

unbridled elaine?

ment 2001 i think

I think the best thing to come out of the restructuring is that they moved The Cottilion up some, so that the major players use this race as a Breeder's Cup conditioner..Usually it was too close to the BC, so no monsters were ever entered..That will change...Big ups to one of the worst tracks I know of... If they could only change that horrid screen they have on simulcast...

Too bad there aren't enough grade 1 caliber horses to make this race interesting. Probably be a decent sized field with a standout shipin at extremely underlaid odds.

Thanks for correcting me. Of course, it was 2001!

That sounds right. Thanks.:D

I think this will be a race for all the second tier Plecther horses that weren't good enough for the triple crown and the Haskell / Travers / Breeders Cup circuit.

Cool, a 2nd tier 1 million dollar race. A trainers dream come true.

:)

Agreed, but don't you think that given time, these second tier million dollar races will have the prestige and appropriate gradings? My thought is that eventually the money will make it respectable.

Kinda like the Delta Jackpot, it seems to be slightly gaining in significance each year. At least it seems that way to me, that every year this race garners more and more attention.

They are going to try to move this up to a G1. Not this year though

Nobody cares. It will have virtually no effect on the Travers. Where's the tradition in the PA Derby? SOmebody brought up the Delta Jackpot.....has anybody worthwhile come out of that race?

Closing Arguement, who was 2nd in the KY Derby as the 19th choice in the betting, ran in the Delta Jackpot race at age 2.

He wasn't much.

This years Delta Jackpot, was run at a truly insane pace, and the race fell apart late. The top two finishers raced last and 2nd to last through the early stages.

The Penn Derby has a lot of history/tradition. The great Meadow Flight won it back in 94.... those were the days.

One of Meadow Flight's owners drove all the way from New Jersey to spend a day of racing with me at Saratoga last year....

He happened to pick the day they cancelled the races because of excessive heat. He didn't find out they had cancelled until he got to the track.

My earliest memory of the PA Derby was when the crusty old Harvy Vanier's Western Playboy won the race, over a full field, by about 20 lengths in pretty strong time.

Smarten also won the Pennsylvania Derby...now that was a good horse.

It pays to be the owner of an average 3 yr old colt...the money is there...everywhere!!

Not yet. My point was that if the million dollar purse remains in place for a long enough time, there will begin to be worthwhile horses that come out of that race. Just wait until the first Derby winner comes from that race, which it inevitably will. Money has a way of steering traditional and therefore relevance. Its easy now to merely shrug off the relevance of the Delta Jackpot, however my prediction is that in five years it will become something that many Derby types point towards.

I still hate Meadow Flight... I was so sure he'd win the Super Derby that year and he ran like ****

O I think you may be mistaken. If a trainer thinks he will get his socks knocked of in Saratoga, don't think he or she won't be thinking about this one.

Absolutly, I agree. Don't overlook the PA Derby. A million dollars speaks volumes. And when trainers are looking more down the road at the Breeders Cup and don't want to burn up their horses. Four weeks between the Haskell and PA Derby will start to sound a little more inviting.
The Breeders Cup has done alot to change the way trainers look at even the most pretigous races. You don't have to look any farther than last years embarrassing edition of the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
I think NYRAor who ever takes over should not look down their noses at this and truley considered this a legitmate threat.

i asked the same guy druggieS mentioned earlier about MF and his super derby performance, and this is what he said:

mf according to bravo couldn't handle the track from the get go,,,,he was dead last after they passed the wire the first time,,even behind concern,,,,,and while doing that he exerted so much he caused himself some trauma and bled,,,,he then was really never the same

I guess that explains it all, considering how well he ran in the Haskell etc. the performance in Louisiana made no sense...

Thanks for the information...

no problem kiri. as he's told druggieS and I a few dozen times, MF had severe respiratory problems that really hindered his performance, especially from that point on. they ended up retiring the horse because of it.