JC / Railbird - Breeders’ Cup

Breeders’ Cup

Restored

The Breeders’ Cup announced today that it’s bringing back the Distaff, which was cast aside for the Ladies’ Classic in 2008. Alicia Wincze called the news “the most popular name restoration since Prince,” and for at least an hour on Twitter, that seemed true. It may be minor, but restoring the Distaff for the 30th running of the BC is a feel-good, fan-friendly bit of change, a return to a classic word with resonance in the game, evoking greats such as Personal Ensign and Azeri. “I couldn’t help doing handsprings,” cheered Bill Finley. Thanks to the Breeders’ Cup, or, as Exacta-Mundo says much better,

… hats off to the Breedersâ€™ Cup for proving themselves yet again to be an organization that takes fan feedback seriously and WELCOME BACK DISTAFF, WE MISSED YOU!

Celebrate by enjoying three great Distaff moments.

Posted in Racing on August 8, 2013 / Tagged Breeders' Cup, Distaff

He Was the Best

And now he’s in the Hall of Fame.

There was some grumbling on Twitter about 2006 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and Horse of the Year Invasor, with his career record of 11 wins from 12 starts, being among this year’s inductees into the Racing Hall of Fame — “No offense to Invasor, who was very good in several races,” tweeted Marcus Hersh, “but if he’s a Hall of Famer, I kind of fail to see the point of the HOF” — but this Invasor fan heartily approves that the world-traveling, world-beating Argentine-bred will be enshrined in Saratoga. Nine of his wins were in Group 1/Grade 1 races, spread across three continents. That’s exceptional.

Back in 2007, Hall of Fame voter Bill Finley wrote, “When the time comes, I will have a hard time voting for horses like Invasor …” Earlier this year, writing of his ballot, his position seemed less conflicted: “Invasor’s career was a brief one but he was the dominant horse of the middle half of the last decade.” Finley was obviously not alone in his evolution — that Invasor was a first-ballot Hall of Fame pick suggests that as careers have grown shorter, more guardians of the game’s history have begun to rethink what makes a horse plaque worthy.

Posted in Racing on April 27, 2013 / Tagged Breeders' Cup, Career Records, Favorites, Hall of Fame, Horse of the Year, Invasor

Caviar Aging Well

After dashing through the second half of an 800 meter work in less than :22, trainer Peter Moody couldn’t help gushing about 6-year-old Black Caviar:

“She’s the complete package now, stupid as it sounds. She could work like that when she was a three-year-old, but it was rushed, not like today.”

Black Caviar starts next (depending on the ground at Randwick) on Saturday in the T.J. Smith Stakes, which is the second 2013 Breeders’ Cup Challenge race on this year’s schedule, released on Monday. Not getting a lot of attention is that this year’s Win and You’re In series is slightly reduced from 2012, going from 73 races to 67, and that among the 15 races dropped are the Met Mile (Belmont, Dirt Mile division), Delaware Handicap (Delaware Park, ~~Distaff~~ Ladies’ Classic), and the Canadian International (Woodbine, Turf).

Posted in Racing on April 9, 2013 / Tagged Australia, Black Caviar, Breeders' Cup, Great Horses, International, Workouts