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.