Breeders' Cup Suspends Stakes Program

[smuthg]

yet another "sign of the times"...

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...stakes-program

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by smuthg

yet another "sign of the times"...

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...stakes-program

That blows.

How about cutting the BC back to one day and keep the stakes program going?

[Scav]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

That blows.

How about cutting the BC back to one day and keep the stakes program going?

That is too intelligent, although, running all those damn races in one day would be kinda nuts. Pick 14.....

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by Scav

That is too intelligent, although, running all those damn races in one day would be kinda nuts. Pick 14.....

I wasn't clear, but I meant cut it back to the original format, take the purse money from all of the races they added over the last two years and keep the stakes program going.

[Scav]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

I wasn't clear, but I meant cut it back to the original format, take the purse money from all of the races they added over the last two years and keep the stakes program going.

I might be the only person that liked the new format.

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by Scav

I might be the only person that liked the new format.

I don't care one way or another about the new BC format. I do care about the Stakes program. Seems they are biting the hand that feeds them.

Why nominate a horse to the BC now, unless he is regally bred? Until today, you nominate pretty much any foal because you want to be eligible for that BC money added to your local stakes purses. Not anymore.

[jwkniska]

Originally Posted by Scav

I might be the only person that liked the new format.

I liked a couple of the new races they added, but they need to be run on one day. splitting it up into 2 days was a bad idea.

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by smuthg

yet another "sign of the times"...

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...stakes-program

It's a sign of the BCL's hubris, greed, arrogance and utter disregard for the industry. They have been sitting on a $30 million surplus... WHERE THE HELL DID IT GO? Nice that they pull the rug out from under everyone else after the November 15 deadline on nomination payments. Sickening behavior by a group that couldn't care less about the game.

[Kasept]

The good news though? This will only serve to hasten their demise and the ruinous effect they've had on racing.

[eajinabi]

If they want two day BC then why not Sat, Sun instead of Fri, Sat. People still work on fridays

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

what a crock of shiet..should have left it alone.. crying poor mouth and stating using the economy as a reason..how about 2 days was a bust and we ****ed it all up..win and your in sucks too.at least this will bring back some stature to the old stakes as people wont be pointing all year to the bc .as steve said on the air..

[Cannon Shell]

while there is no doubt that their revenue will be down this year because of declining stud fees and fewer foal nominations, ect, completely scraping the program is a terrible idea. Very few of us smaller scale breeders believe we will ever get a horse that makes it to the big BC races but I would nominate and pay the $500 to register the foal because of the much greater possibility that a foal may make it into one of the smaller BC races held throughout the country. If I ever got one good enough for the big show it would be gravy. I would imagine that I wont be nominating any foals next year and i'm sure that many other breeders will feel the same. Had they chose to scale back the program a bit I would understand. But this group has consistently been reactionary and unwilling to listen to its constituents that dont own large stud farms or arent collecting large salaries. From the insistence on keeping the purple saddle towels, talking of having an overseas cup, adding totally irrelevant races like the marathon, changing the name of the distaff and having all the filly races on the same day, raising the BC day ticket prices to obscene levels the people who call the shots at the Breeders Cup have almost always done what turns out to be the wrong thing. I would be considered a redboarder however I along with many, many people on this board, callers to steve's show, others in the business that i talk to all agreed that these were bad ideas beforehand. Do you know how bad you have to be when a general consensus of racing fans and industry types agree on your ineptness? Magna or John Brunetti type ineptness.

[banter]

The suddenness, furtiveness, and scope of the announcement are extremely alarming. Indeed, where did the acclaimed surplus go?

Blaming the recent turndown in the economy for such a draconian and far-reaching move is illogical. Doctors splint and cast an injured arm; they don't amputate it. Similarly, even if the BC supplemental program is injured by a sour economy, that doesn't mean that BC administrators should abandon it for over a year. Something else is going on.

And as usual, it appears that the BC muckety-mucks are doing their best to prevent race fans from discovering the rest of the story.

[AeWingnut]

Originally Posted by Kasept

It's a sign of the BCL's hubris, greed, arrogance and utter disregard for the industry. They have been sitting on a $30 million surplus... WHERE THE HELL DID IT GO? Nice that they pull the rug out from under everyone else after the November 15 deadline on nomination payments. Sickening behavior by a group that couldn't care less about the game.

wow - Scumbags.

if they had the money invested it just went away.

[Riot]

John Gaines had some different ideas, but he has to be turning over in his grave.

[Linny]

The fact is that many breeders nominate "moderately" bred individuals to the program because of the stakes opportunities. Many of these type horses (based on pedigree and foal conformation) are not considered likely to ever run in "the big day" of racing but could find their way into some of the supplemented stakes. I hear that breeders in this category are far less likely to nominate foals as a result of this change.
BCL doesn't care now, but if enough withhold nominations it ads up. Also, they have the possibility of getting huge supplementals if any of those moderate horses end up contenders for BC day races.

[Riot]

How are the tracks supposed to fund these stakes now?

When is Steve having someone from Breeders Cup on ATR? (stand back, I won't want to miss that) What are the individual tracks saying?

[Danzig]

so...we heard all about how the two days was a huge success, i think combined handle was an all-time high(altho no track comes close to replicating churchill regarding handle). the bc made a lot more money from the two day event because of how wagering is handled, which all goes to the bc rather than the host track... tv ratings if i recall correctly were higher than in the past.
and this is their response? it's absolutely disgraceful.

[SniperSB23]

This is the racing equivalent of putting the ball in JP Losman's hands on 2nd and 5 with 2 minutes left clinging to a 3 point lead.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

This is the racing equivalent of putting the ball in JP Losman's hands on 2nd and 5 with 2 minutes left clinging to a 3 point lead.

and passing