JC / Railbird

Juveniles

“Future Friday”

Another call for reorganizing the Breeders’ Cup schedule, from Steve Haskin:

How about if they keep the Juvenile Sprint on Friday, and, in fact, move all the juvenile races to Friday and promote it as “Future Friday?”

With the solid showings on this year’s Derby trail of Juvenile Turf graduates Soldat, Master of Hounds, and Willcox Inn, and the early grass success of Animal Kingdom and Brilliant Speed, the Breeders’ Cup can promo Future Friday as a potential spawning ground of Triple Crown horses …

Sure. It also creates a hook for promoting next year’s Breeders’ Cup (will we see the Juvenile or Juvenile Turf Fillies winner return in the Classic or the Filly and Mare Turf?) and another for invoking the past (last year’s Juvenile Sprint winner returns). It would add a real sense of continuity from year to year.

Posted in Racing on June 30, 2011 / Tagged Breeders' Cup, Expansion, Juveniles, Making the Best of Too Much of a Good Thing, Scheduling

Reworking the Schedule

Steven Crist on changing the Breeders’ Cup two-day line-up with the addition of the Juvenile Sprint to this year’s event:

There are several realignments that would work better, such as emphasizing juveniles or sprinters on Friday. My personal preference would be to run the seven newest races on Friday and the original eight on Saturday. Any of these schemes, or others, would work better than “Filly Friday Except for the Juvenile Sprint and Marathon and the Fillies Running Tomorrow Day.”

I’m partial to a juveniles Friday, which not only makes for a good story but better fits the implicit stakes hierarchy Saturday races sit atop.

Posted in Racing on June 18, 2011 / Tagged Breeders' Cup, Buzz Babies, Expansion, Juvenile Sprint, Juveniles, Scheduling

Zenyatta Connections

Dazzling praise for Zenyatta’s 2-year-old half-sister by Bernardini:

“She has as much presence as any young horse I’ve ever been around,” Robinson said. “It scares me. She’s completely herself, very independent, but in a good way. She’s sweet, but not sugary. Very businesslike. She was definitely the dominant one, but in a kind way, with the other yearlings. I watched Zenyatta at Lane’s End several weeks ago when they first introduced her to the other maidens, and it’s the same thing. It’s not a kick-your-ass kind of dominance, but it’s like they just knew who the boss was. Eblouissante is very much that way.”

Here’s a photo of Eblouissante from last summer, giving a look that’s very like her Horse of the Year sibling. She’ll go to trainer John Shirreffs later this year.

Uncle Mo is on Facebook and Twitter and owner Mike Repole credits Team Zenyatta. “I’ve always connected with products that connected with me.”

3/1/11 Update: Eblouissante now has her own Facebook fan page.

Posted in Racing on February 4, 2011 / Tagged Eblouissante, Juveniles, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Uncle Mo, Zenyatta