JC / Railbird

Breeders’ Cup Archive

Take Back the Race!

Done with complaining about the Breeders’ Cup changes announced last month, a few of us decided to “put our money where our mouth is,” as Dana writes so well on Green But Game, and draft a petition requesting the BC rename the Ladies’ Classic, create a fan committee to provide feedback, and consider alternate BC schedules. We’re ready to not attend, watch, or wager unless we’re heard. Join us: Sign the petition to take back the race.

Posted in Breeders' Cup on March 7, 2008

Saturday Afternoon Horses

“Princess Rooney, Lady’s Secret, Personal Ensign, Bayakoa, Paseana, Hollywood Wildcat, Inside Information, Azeri, and Ashado” (DRF+).
3/3/08 Update: Breeders’ Cup officials have responded to the reaction the changes have stirred up — check out this Blood-Horse story for the company line, Left at the Gate for a more detailed explanation of the reasoning behind the moves from BC consultant Chip Tuttle and some very animated discussion in the comments section.

Posted in Breeders' Cup on February 29, 2008

Considered Reaction …

Superfecta takes a step back from the Breeders’ Cup brouhaha and comes up with some superb suggestions for improvements. I agree with her that a panel of fans, reflecting the racing audience’s true diversity, could help avoid uproars like this one. Surely such a group would have told the BC that Ladies’ Classic was a misguided, off-putting, unnecessary change.

Over on Brooklyn Backstretch, Teresa points out that “there’s a long tradition of poorly-named, sexist race names for female horses” and resolves to continue calling the big Breeders’ Cup race for fillies and mares the Distaff.

Posted in Breeders' Cup on February 28, 2008

Instant Reaction …

To the Breeders’ Cup announcement that the event will feature an all-female day of racing on Friday, that the Breeders’ Cup Distaff will be renamed the Ladies’ Classic, and that the Breeders’ Cup will be partnering with organizations to host “cause-related programs focused on women’s health” the same day:
– An all-female day of great racing is a great idea (as suggested by Superfecta months ago). [2/28 Addendum: Or maybe not so wonderful. Over on Left at the Gate, Alan worries the Friday move “threatens to make the Ladies second class citizens.”]
– Renaming the Distaff the Ladies’ Classic is a silly and very bad idea. The name change tosses tradition and manages to sound both trivializing and unpleasantly old-fashioned.
– Please, don’t put the pink ribbon on the saddle cloths. I’m all for women’s health, but women are more than their bodies. If the Breeders’ Cup is going to promote an all-female day of racing, let’s see positive expressions of women in the sport as horseplayers and horsewomen, not marketing tie-ins about women’s health issues.
More: Reactions abound across the blogosphere, some positive, some negative. “It smacks of sexism,” writes John on Not to the Swift. I second the sentiment.
Columnist Maryjean Wall also protests the changes: “Every time I think that maybe, just maybe, we might hope to get past genderizing our culture, I am reminded how we really only stand on the brink of tottering backward.”

Posted in Breeders' Cup on February 27, 2008