Pletcher and his TC Comments

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

I seem to recall way back when that $5 million dollar bonus thing started (and I think it might have been when... Chrysler? Did they sponsor it before Visa? I was a teenager, anyway) that the sponsor offered a one million dollar bonus to whichever horse did the best in all three Triple Crown races- so that even if there was no TC winner, there was still a champ of the TC races, so to speak. They may have only done it for a year or so, but I remember as a very casual fan being interested in the horses competing for that award.

Does anyone else remember this?

Yep, I'd forgotten about that, GenuineRisk, but I think you're right. I'm not sure it was $1 million, but it could have been.

In a similar vein, I liked the handicap point series they tried for a year or two. Horses earned points in various Grade I races, and the leaders at the end of the year picked up an extra several hundred thou. Unfortunately, the main year they tried it, the horses were not particularly inspiring. Festin and some others. They quickly dropped the idea.

--Dunbar