What happened to the WHAS Stake on Derby day for 2 yr olds?

[BIG49010]

The WHAS or the 2 yr old stake was always a favorite of mine on Derby day.

Anybody know what happened to it? I thought they had it last year.

[GeTydOn]

I think they scrapped it.

[Valuist]

Best thing about the CD Derby card this year is they took that damned unplayable 2YO race out of the middle of the card so the P3s and P4s aren't ruined.

[RXB]

They'll probably bring it back next year as a 2f race. Oh no, wait, that'll be the dimwits at Woodbine who'll do something like that.

[46zilzal]

They'll probably bring it back next year as a 2f race. Oh no, wait, that'll be the dimwits at Woodbine who'll do something like that.
Santa Anita has also been carding those for years now

[RXB]

At least SA reduces the purse level for those races. WO pays full shot. Really encouraging quality racing with that maneouvre. But, not surprising.

[mainardi]

Santa Anita has also been carding those for years now
I live here in SoCal, and for the life of me I don't remember ever seeing a 2 furlong race. It's not going to happen during the Winter/Spring meet that just ended (it's too soon for the "baby races") nor during the Oak Tree meet runs in the early fall (when the 2 year olds have matured past the point of needing short races).

In all of the years that I've been following the circuit -- from early 1970's, with a few years away in the mid-to-late 1990s -- I've never seen a 2 furlong THOROUGHBRED race. The Hollywood Park Spring/Summer meet will surely have some 4 and 4 1/2 furlong races, but that's about as close as we get. If you count the quarterhorse meet at Los Alamitos, then I grant you that the 440 yard races are 2 furlongs.

If senility has set in early, I apologize... but I really think that the SoCal circuit is deviod of thoroughbred races shorter than 4 furlongs.

[Steve 'StatMan']

They've got a 2yo Stake on Thursday. Race 9, Kentucky Breeders' Cup H. - Grade 3. 5 furlongs. Purse $150,000.

2F Santa Anita races for #5 Hot Flame & #8 Erin's Kristina, both won those MSW races. (SA 3/30/06 Race 1, and 3/29/06 Race 1, respectively)

Maybe moving it to Thursday will help make a Pick-6 Carryover for the KY Oaks Day (Friday), and maybe even a bigger C/O for Derby Day. ;)

(...and a Monster C/O for the Locals on Wednesday!) :lol:

[Jeff P]

posted by Joe Mainardi - I live here in SoCal, and for the life of me I don't remember ever seeing a 2 furlong race. It's not going to happen during the Winter/Spring meet that just ended (it's too soon for the "baby races") nor during the Oak Tree meet runs in the early fall (when the 2 year olds have matured past the point of needing short races).

In all of the years that I've been following the circuit -- from early 1970's, with a few years away in the mid-to-late 1990s -- I've never seen a 2 furlong THOROUGHBRED race. The Hollywood Park Spring/Summer meet will surely have some 4 and 4 1/2 furlong races, but that's about as close as we get. If you count the quarterhorse meet at Los Alamitos, then I grant you that the 440 yard races are 2 furlongs.

If senility has set in early, I apologize... but I really think that the SoCal circuit is deviod of thoroughbred races shorter than 4 furlongs.

Um... You might want to rethink that. Santa Anita has been carding 2f Maiden Races for 2YO thoroughbreds for years. Quite often every runnner in these races is a first time starter. I found nine such races in my database that were run at the recently concluded Santa Anita Spring Meet.

Here are the winnners:

ODDS RES WIN PLACE SHOW DATE/Track/Race#/Surf/Dist HORSE/JOCKEY/TRAINER
002.70 1st 7.40 4.00 3.80 03-22-2006 SAX 1ST D S FT YO JOAN/BAZE T C/WARD WESLEY A
056.70 1st 115.40 41.00 15.00 03-23-2006 SAX 1ST D S FT SMART N'QUIET/ARRIAGA E T/HO HERBERT
003.70 1st 9.40 6.40 6.00 03-30-2006 SAX 1ST D S FT HOT FLAME/ATKINSON P/VELASQUEZ DANNY
001.10 1st 4.20 2.40 2.10 04-05-2006 SAX 1ST D S WF FANCY AND FREE/BOYCE R/CHIPMAN SHANE
003.90 1st 9.80 4.40 3.00 04-06-2006 SAX 1ST D S FT HOT ROD/ESPINOZA V/HARRINGTON MIKE
001.20 1st 4.40 3.20 2.10 04-12-2006 SAX 1ST D S FT LOVELY LAGOON/ESPINOZA V/BONDE JEFF
001.30 1st 4.60 2.80 2.60 04-13-2006 SAX 1ST D S FT GENUINE TALENT/ATKINSON P/VELASQUEZ DANNY
010.00 1st 22.00 10.00 4.40 04-19-2006 SAX 1ST D S FT TRAVEL IN CIRCLES/BAZE T C/CHIPMAN SHANE
000.80 1st 3.60 2.20 2.10 04-20-2006 SAX 1ST D S FT EL BANCO/VALENZUELA P A/CAPESTRO PAULA S

The one thing I like about the way Santa Anita handles these races is that each is typically carded as the first race on the card. That way they have minimal effect on their rolling pick-3's and aren't part of their pick-6.

-jp

.

[mainardi]

Selective Male Memory... at least that's what my wife calls it. ;)

I must be so averse to the concept -- reminds me too much of quarterhorse racing -- that I guess I just don't even see them. Aha, I just noticed that they're all on Wednesday and Thursday... haven't made a weekday wager in so long that I wouldn't have caught it anyway.

I wonder when they started doing it... anybody know for sure? My guess would be sometime about 10 years ago, since that's about the time SoCal tracks started having trouble filling races.

[BIG49010]

Just opened file for CD and it's today! Looks Baff sent a SA 2 furlonger to take on Asmussen. :jump:

[rastajenk]

You guys act like these early 2yo races are tough to pick. I've always thought they were easy pickin's. Just picking trainers narrows it considerably, and the runners in this CD race usually have a race at Turfway or Keeneland or Delta Downs to go on. I'm not suggesting that they're always chalky, but they're not total crapshoots either. Put 'em in the Pick Six....why not?

[BIG49010]

Ditto.

I even hit the first starter that won it 15 years ago. The Delta down races used to give away the winner, I don't know what happened to those futurity races anymore either.