Breeders Cup PERMANENTLY at Santa Anita?

[MO]

Statistically, Churchill\'s worst BC, attendance - wise, dwarfs every Cali BC save one., and that one was a photo finish.

More people in the stands means more live handle.
Churchill is an easier ship for the Euros.
The original plan was a rotating event and it should stay that way. There should have been a BC run in Europe by now as well. And as with Churchill, there are no reported earthquakes in the last 100 years.............

[BH]

I think the powers that be should consider running the Breeders Cup in two locations simultaneously.
 They should try running the turf races in Europe and dirt races here, or a combination of poly/turf there and poly/turf here, depending on which American track was chosen. Enough poly surfaces are showing up in Europe that this will soon be possible if not already. I\'m sure the owners of the new billion dollar facility going in in County Tipperary would be glad to include a poly track if it made the facility usable for the BC. With 5 hours between London and New York at least a few races could be run concurrently with other \'filler\' stakes for the live crowds in either location to enjoy.

[Funny Cide]

MO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Statistically, Churchill\'s worst BC, attendance -
> wise, dwarfs every Cali BC save one., and that one
> was a photo finish.
>
> More people in the stands means more live handle.
> Churchill is an easier ship for the Euros.
> The original plan was a rotating event and it
> should stay that way. There should have been a BC
> run in Europe by now as well. And as with
> Churchill, there are no reported earthquakes in
> the last 100 years.............

On what European dirt track would you suggest we hold the dirt racing on?

Don\'t forget who paid for the BC and that\'s NA breeders.  Let teh Europeans develop their own Breeders Cup if they want one.

[BH]

Funny Cide:

Mo can respond to your question re/ dirt track choice since you directed it to him, although I posted something very similiar.
But as to \'letting the Euros develop their own BC\' let me say this-
I do nominate foals and were I to raise one good enough to run in the BC I would be DELIGHTED if it turned out to be good enough to run in any BC race, anywhere.

[MO]

Is dirt racing the issue? After all, they are trying to sell Santa Anita\'a polytrack as an incentive to bring the Euros over here. Poly aint dirt.


So, as long as we are selling polytrack, we should be willing to reciprocate, no?We should be willing to run on a Euro - all - weather - track.  So, why not have the BC here:


http://ggbmagazine.com/issue/vol-8-no-12-december-2009/article/ireland-eyes-casino-resort-with-racetrack

[miff]

Weather has to be an issue. The Monmouth debacle and the BC at Belmont some years back were horribly uncomfortable for those in attendance.Monmouth a wet mess and Belmont a cuppy wind dried surface with jocks steering to the 5 path to get away from the fence.

Cali and Florida are the only two possible venues where the bad weather factor can be somewhat mitigated.In Florida,Gulfstream has been destroyed by Stronach as a possible venue, so that only leaves Cali,weather wise.Kentucky and NY are very iffy in November.Rip up the rug at Santa and maybe it\'s not a bad idea to have as a permanent site,dirt only.

After the dust settles, I think the BC will be rotated much as it is now.


Mike

[Dana666]

I\'m glad you said it. If I made that comment, it would have been deleted.

[MO]

I\'m not being facious BTW when I speak of an earthquake.

I was at Santa Anita for the Northridge quake. Prior to that experience I was seriously considering a move to LA. After that quake, I didn\'t go back to California for 15 years. Imagine an earthquake during the BC. Pretty scary, which is why the subject is never brought up. But if you were taking bets on which track was most likely to experience an earthquake during the BC, SA would be a heavy favorite. And THINK ABOUT the repercussions.........................

And people whine about a thunderstorm at Monmouth?? A sloppy track is a walk in the park compared to an earthquake.

[Dana666]

First of all, is anyone sure Santa Anita will still be in operation on a permanent basis? I\'m still thinking it will be a mall or a country club within 5 years, so I wouldn\'t worry too much about this. If they don\'t make major changes, they won\'t have an industry in California very soon. (I hope Jerry doesn\'t delete this message due to it\'s strong language). But, really, if they took out the synthetic track, it wouldn\'t be a bad venue. Though I still favor a rotation. As far as the weather factor, great horses should run in all kinds of weather, so having it in places where the weather may not be great should not be a deterrent. In the final analysis, it\'s just one or two days of racing anyway. Does it really mean that much to someone like me who plays horses 300 days a year? I\'m more concerned with who\'ll win the 8th race tonight at Remington Park.

[elkurzhal]

BC and CD have had a rocky relationship, CD tries to play hardball because they are the best host site for many reasons, and they know it.  If I was trying to make a deal with them the first thing I would do was have a deal almost done with someone else...

[TGJB]

Dana-- strong language and strong opinions are two different things, I would never delete something like that. The stuff driving me nuts was personal backbiting between posters. Fire away.

[Silver Charm]

Ritchie isn\'t SA in the process of being sold or auctioned off.

So nobody can be sure what surface the new group prefers and they may very well want to include enough CAPEX funding in the deal to make the switch back to dirt.

If the venue is kept at one location year-over-year they would certainly help the operators.

[Dana666]

Thanks for clearing it up.

[P-Dub]

MO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I\'m not being facious BTW when I speak of an
> earthquake.
>
> I was at Santa Anita for the Northridge quake.
> Prior to that experience I was seriously
> considering a move to LA. After that quake, I
> didn\'t go back to California for 15 years. Imagine
> an earthquake during the BC. Pretty scary, which
> is why the subject is never brought up. But if you
> were taking bets on which track was most likely to
> experience an earthquake during the BC, SA would
> be a heavy favorite. And THINK ABOUT the
> repercussions.........................
>
> And people whine about a thunderstorm at
> Monmouth?? A sloppy track is a walk in the
> park compared to an earthquake.

Dude, you\'re really serious?? How many MAJOR earthquakes have there been?? And if there is one, what are the chances that it will occur during the BC??

Gee, ya think Thunderstorms and slopfests occur just a bit more often than earthquakes??

How many horses have you seen break down during an earthquake?? How many have broken down over sloppy, slippery main tracks? That Monmouth track you say people are whining about?? Thats what happened there.

I\'ve lived here my entire life, in No Cal, and lived through the 1989 quake. I live less than 10 miles from the Cypress Structure in Oakland, the 2 level freeway that pancaked and killed many. I drove through that stretch hundreds of times. Not once did I even think about moving away. You prepare for the worst and hope it isn\'t necessary.

My favorite line is this one....

\"But if you were taking bets on which track was most likely to experience an earthquake during the BC, SA would be a heavy favorite.\"

Wow, that is really enlightening.

You sir, are one paranoid individual.

[TGJB]

PDub-- You think you could have written that without the last 4 lines? Do they add anything?