A blind man could see this coming a mile away.
A lot of people think the BC hit on a good thing with the FM Turf race and they're just "building on that success" with all these additional races. Then again, fillies and mares like Pebbles, Miss Alleged, Royal Heroine, Miesque (x2), Ridgewood Pearl and Six Perfections did just fine without the sex-restriction.
Adding a Juv Turf race, throwing a million dollars at it and trying to get G1 for it is ludicrous. There are a grand total of two Graded turf races for 2 yo's, both of which are Grade 3's and both run in late November at Hollywood. The purses for these races are $100k and $150k. What possible justification is there for a race like this? For the BC people to say it will draw Euro horses is rubbish. Fact is, they've done a lousy job getting Europeans to come during the last 5-8 years and throwing money at the problem is ridiculous and will only serve to further dilute decent racing throughout the fall.
There's even less reason for a $1,000,000 turf sprint aside from, perhaps, to provide competition to the Delta Jackpot as the most ridiculous race of the year.
I like Breeders Cup Day for the racing but overall it's bad for the sport the way it dilutes good races throughout the fall. The JCGC was ok this year but last year's race was pathetic. It won't be long until races like the JCGC and Cigar are downgraded or even go the way of the Marlboro.
This year's Cigar should have drawn Corinthian and a few others. Instead we saw a pretty lousy race. If you don't think it was a lousy race, you are in disagreement with bettors who wagered far more on Aqueduct's last race that day (a NYBred N1X) than they did on the Cigar.
On the positive side, the Cigar resulted in Naughty New Yorker now being Grade 1 Stakes Placed. There is always something for which to be thankful.
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