Is the Breeders' Cup too important?
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Photo:
Eclipse Sportswire
When the Breeders’ Cup races were launched in 1984, they
were designed to be a year-end championship for North American racing. The
horses that ran in these races knocked heads often throughout the year and then
came together again at the end. At the time of its inception and through the
early years, the Breeders’ Cup truly was a championship. The horses that won
the Classic or the Distaff beat the best their division had to offer, and when
named Horse of the Year, there was no doubt that they had truly earned that
honor on the track, not just at the Breeders’ Cup but throughout the year, as
well. In the rare event that a Horse of the Year did not run in the Breeders’
Cup, they had put together such an impressive yearlong campaign that there was
again no doubt about their worthiness of the title. But that was then, and this
is now.
As the years have passed, the Breeders’ Cup has become
increasingly important. So much so in fact, that winning a Breeders’ Cup race
almost virtually guarantees the winner an Eclipse award in spite of what they
may or may not have done throughout the year. With the Juvenile divisions,
about 95% of the time it is okay to rely so heavily on the Breeders’ Cup since
most of the “babies” don’t start racing until late summer. There is not a lot
of time for them to face one another, so usually the Breeders’ Cup gives a
pretty good indication of which colt/gelding or filly is the best that year.
However, there are some times when the winner is not the best. Most of the time
the Eclipse voters get it right when it comes down to it in the Juvenile
divisions, but 2011 saw Hansen get
the Eclipse over Union Rags despite
the latter having the stronger campaign. It is times like that when fans are left
to wonder just how important the Breeders’ Cup really ought to be.
In today’s culture of ducking competition, running in fewer
races, and economizing assets, often times what
you win is just as important if not more important than who you beat. Take this year’s top two finalists for Champion
3-Year Old Filly. Beholder ended up
winning the Eclipse in a landslide vote simply for the fact that she won the
Breeders’ Cup Distaff on her home track. Likewise, she also won the Eclipse in 2012 for Champion Two-Year Old Filly simply for winning the Juvenile Fillies despite Executiveprivilege having a better overall year. Today winning the Breeders’ Cup is
more important than a solid yearlong
campaign, which is why Beholder got the nod over Princess of Sylmar. In my opinion, Princess of Sylmar’s yearlong
campaign holds much more water than Beholder staying in California all year,
skipping all the major races in her division, and then winning the Distaff.
While Beholder was in California, Princess of Sylmar was back east winning all
the major, historically significant races in the 3-year old filly division. Winning
the Alabama, CCA Oaks, Kentucky Oaks, and Beldame is much more important in
comparison to Beholder’s Zenyatta and Distaff victories.
Conversely, in the Older Male Division this year, Game On Dude put together an impressive
campaign throughout the year only to bomb the Breeders’ Cup Classic and then
finish a close 2nd to 3-year old Champion Will Take Charge in the Clark. While Beholder was rewarded for
staying in California and having a weaker campaign, but winning the Distaff,
Game On Dude was penalized for winning historically significant races in
California but throwing a clunker in November. Instead, the Eclipse for Older
Male went to Wise Dan, an excellent
turf miler. While I have to commend Wise Dan and his connections for traveling
the continent and taking it to whatever competition dared challenge them, I do
have to argue that the races Wise Dan won were not nearly as significant as
those that Game On Dude captured. Only one other horse in history, Lava Man, has won the Santa Anita
Handicap, Pacific Classic, and Hollywood Gold Cup in one year, something that
is a huge feat. But instead of being rewarded for an excellent year, Game On
Dude was overlooked due to one bad race. Such was not the case in 1998 when Skip Away finished 6th in
the Classic after having an otherwise exceptional year. The same can be said of
Cigar in 1996 and Curlin in 2008. The aforementioned
three were also named Horse of the Year in addition to garnering divisional
honors. Furthermore, though never technically specified, the Older Male award
has traditionally gone to outstanding dirt runners, though it has been awarded
to turf specialists in the absence of a truly standout dirt horse. Game On Dude
had quite a year on dirt, while Wise Dan never set hoof on that surface in the
afternoons. But because Wise Dan won a Breeders’ Cup race and Game On Dude didn’t,
Wise Dan received the accolades and Game On Dude was once again stiffed.
Aside from wondering just how important the Breeders’ Cup
ought to be, fans are often also left to wonder if and when the Breeders’ Cup
should be completely disregarded. Like Mucho Macho Man, dual Eclipse winner for Champion Female Sprinter Groupie Doll had an abbreviated 2013
campaign due to illness. While Mucho Macho Man was passed over for any Eclipse
awards due to missing half the year and having only two wins, Groupie Doll was
once again named Champion Female Sprinter despite having only two wins herself.
So why the discrepancy? They both defeated the best their respective divisions
had to offer, but finalists Dance to Bristol and Mizdirection
certainly had better overall years in much the same way that Game On Dude and
Wise Dan had better years than Mucho Macho Man. Yet one was rewarded
essentially for winning the Breeders’ Cup while the other was overlooked. Such
a discrepancy makes absolutely no sense and does not sit well at all with fans.
In a case of voters truly being all over the map for the
2013 awards, two-year old Shared Belief
was named Champion Two-Year Old Male after skipping the Breeders’ Cup
altogether, and She’s A Tiger was
named Champion Two-Year Old Female after winning and then being disqualified
and placed second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Did Shared Belief have
a better overall year than Juvenile winner New Year’s Day? Depending on in which camp you reside, the case could be argued
either way. From a purely statistical standpoint, Shared Belief had two graded
stakes wins to New Year’s Day’s one, but a good case could also be made for Havana or Honor Code, the latter of which was not even a finalist for the
division. This was a year where some of the top talent did not run in the
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, making a decision on the division standout difficult.
On the female side of things, the voters actually got it right in awarding She’s
A Tiger divisional honors despite her Breeders’ Cup disqualification. Never
worse than second in any of her 6 starts, she had a campaign worthy of
recognition, something neither of the other two finalists could truly boast.
The Eclipse for Outstanding Steeplechase horse going to Divine Fortune was another vote that
left me baffled. For comparison’s sake, the Grand National is best thought of
as akin to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, except for jumpers rather than flat
racers, and is the richest steeplechase in American racing. Because Divine
Fortune won the G1 Grand National Hurdle Stakes while, he received the
accolades. However, Italian Wedding,
though having the least amount in earnings of the three finalists and finishing
8th in the Grand National, had the best overall year. In the five times that the three finalists faced each
other during 2013, Italian Wedding had the best finish in 3 of those meetings.
The gelded son of Alphabet Soup did this while racing exclusively in Grade 1
events, something neither the third finalist Gustavian nor Divine Fortune did.
Fellow Horse Racing Nation blogger Laura Pugh recently suggested implementing a points system in order
to determine divisional winners each year. In order to be named division
champion, the winner would have to have earned the most points, and the
divisional champion with the most overall points is Horse of the Year. While
the idea certainly has merit and would be helpful, I am not sure that a
complete switch to that type of system is what the Eclipse Awards needs. Part
of the appeal of the Eclipse Awards is the suspense in close divisions, and a
switch to a completely points based system would detract from that particular
quality. Should the Breeders’ Cup be an important deciding factor in divisional
honors? Absolutely, because it is, after all, a championship series. Should it
be the end all, be all? Of course
not. Horses are going to have their off days because they are not machines. A
horse with a stellar yearlong campaign should not miss out on earning hardware
simply because they had one off day. Conversely, Breeders’ Cup winners should
not be rewarded for having one good day if the rest of their campaign was
underwhelming. There needs to be standards, and these standards need to be
applied fairly and consistently.
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