Mile and a Half Races

[MickJ26]

Just wondering if you folks can offer your opinions.
Why doesn't NYRA take advantage of the wonderful expanse that is Belmont and card mile and a half races? Secretariat's world record still stands in part due to Secretariat's greatness and in part due to it's a rarely run distance, on dirt anyway. Should the mile and half be reserved for stakes races only? If know if the purse money is there, horsemen will run their horses at any distance, they'd have no problem filling the races. It might change the way horses are bred and I know it'd be fun to handicap.
Thanks.

[joanied]

Until breeders start getting stamina back into the bloodlines, we won't see distance racing again...it would be a good idea to card a few during a meet...but, as you said, the purses would have to be high, and right now, anyway, NY doesn't have the money...

[nearco]

They don't card 12f races because owners and trainers by and large don't want to run their horses in them. It takes more conditioning, i.e time in the morning, and it takes more out of a horse so you can't run back as fast or as often.
It has nothing to do with lack of stamina. Most any horse stabled at Belmont or Aqueduct could be trained to race at 12f. There are plenty of horses doing it around the world, many with bloodlines not dissimilar from what's found in the US, in fact quite a few by some of the exact same sires that stand in the KY who shuttle. The overwhelming majority of steeplechasers in the US are horse bred to run short who flunked out and got rerouted to a different career. They run two miles + no problem.

Hell, I'd be perfectly happy to see some normal everyday races at 9f, 10f on the main track, never mind 12f. There's precious few of those that aren't stakes races. Seems like 1m 1/16th is the magic glass ceiling that people don't want to race beyond unless it's a graded race.

[MickJ26]

I hear what you guys are saying. Still, it wouldn't kill them to replace a couple of the six furlong races in the condition book. Other than the health and safety of their horses, owners want to make money. Like they said in Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come."

[OTM Al]

I hear what you guys are saying. Still, it wouldn't kill them to replace a couple of the six furlong races in the condition book. Other than the health and safety of their horses, owners want to make money. Like they said in Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come."

No, it wouldn't kill them, but then you'd not see the races anyway as they likely wouldn't fill and that would be that. Races are written for what is on the grounds. If they had a bunch of 12f horses, they would be running such races.

[Space Monkey]

Another negative aspect of US racing. We breed them for speed and thats that. I love distance races. I love grass racing. Handicapping these races to me requires a much better understanding of how the race will be run and how the jocks will ride, than in your typical 6 furlong sprint. The Derby, Belmont, Travers and BC Classic are 1 1/4 or 1 1/2. Doesn't it make sense to breed and prepare our horses for the classic distances?

[Cratos]

Until breeders start getting stamina back into the bloodlines, we won't see distance racing again...it would be a good idea to card a few during a meet...but, as you said, the purses would have to be high, and right now, anyway, NY doesn't have the money...

Do you remember when the JCGC was run at 2 miles and today it is at 1 1/4 miles.

[tzipi]

Would love to see racing get back to its roots also. But as said too much breeding for speed over the years. These thoroughbreds can not run the old distances. Well not a decent times anyway.

[SaratogaSteve]

what did they say in the Daily News last week? it's too expensive...NYRA is so strapped for cash the Belmont is being shortened to 8.5 F... :lol:

[strapper]

Marathon races just don't suit the demands of today. They don't run back as quickly for one thing. If these races are carded, though, in my opinion, the purses need to be larger than those that would be at the sprint distances. Yes, we are not breeding for stamina as much because the market won't support it at the sales. Personally, while I love watching the longer events I think they fall into the category of "jockey races" as opposed to "true races". The jockey is important in routes as much as the bloodlines and having a good conditioning base supplied by the trainer.

[BlueShoe]

Back in the 60's and 70's the SoCal tracks would schedule dirt races, usually for lower level claimers, at longer distances. The ones at 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 were quite popular, the fans liked them, they had a good handle, and almost always had a full field. Do recall some old time horsemen back then insisting that these longer slower paced races were actually less hard on their horses than were the shorter all out sprints.

[Cardus]

When Baffert had his Triple Crown run in the late 90s, I recall him saying that he thought that the Belmont Stakes was the easiest on the horses of the three races, for they didn't run very hard over the first part -- I don't recall if he cited the first 3/4 or the first mile -- of the race.