Renaming races takes away from the history of the game. When races are named for famous horses or people in the game, carry the name forward, carries a bit of what they did with it. The great mare Maskette deserved a race named for her but if they still run it, it's not the Maskette now. Changing the name of the "John A Morris" undercuts one of the founders of American racing in the "modern" era. I understand that today's observer may identify more with Personal Ensign than Mr Morris, but guess what, in another 50 years people won't be associating with PE and the name Phipps will be an obscurity and the Ogden Phipps H (formerly the Hempstead) will be renamed for the flavor of the month.
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RIP Monroe.
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