Quote:
Originally Posted by Spalding No!
The problem is that the older division stakes program has been decimated along with the proportion of the top 3yos that continue on as 4yos and older.
The group of horses you were talking about (horses that missed the TC, the TC also-rans that time off, and the late bloomers) usually targeted the Strub series at Santa Anita (3 top level races at 7f, 9f, 10f) at the end of the year. But the bright folks at SA and the Stronach Group decided to do away with the series so that they could concentrate on making the San Antonio some sort of prep for their fake multi-million dollar race at Gulfstream. In the process they've exposed the Big Cap to a possible multi-level downgrade (it should be a Grade 3).
California has 3 10f stakes spaced about 2-3 months apart over the entire year but all the preps in-between (San Pasqual, San Antonio, San Bernardino, Mervyn Leroy, Californian, Bel Air) are gone or soon to be gone. The only other 2 10f stakes are the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the BC Classic. The Suburban should be up in there, but is starting to run on fumes.
Saratoga has the Whitney and Woodward now but it's starting to appear that those races are "too close together" as many horses skip one over the other. The Jockey Club Gold Cup is starting to look like NY's answer to the Big Cap, and the Kelso moving to the dirt has been a further nuisance to the JCGC, drawing horses like Honor Code, Code of Honor, To Honor and Serve, and Uncle Mo that ultimately ran in the BC Classic.
Churchill has 3 decent stakes (Alysheba, Stephen Foster, and Clark) but Keeneland drops the ball with a couple of Grade 3 races in between CD's meets.
Pimlico Special is ready to disappear for another 50 years like it did before.
A far cry from the American Championship Racing Series which should have been a game changer in terms of keeping horses around.
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FWIW the Strub was really not killed by the Pegasus. It was killed by the desires of trainers re: spacing of races.
Santa Anita used to schedule as follows:
Malibu (3yo turning 4)- December 26
San Pascual (4yo and up)- second week of January
San Fernando (4yo)- third week of January
Strub (4yo)- first week of February
San Antonio (4yo and up)- third week of February
Santa Anita Handicap (4yo and up)- first week of March
That worked fine- until trainers started demanding 4 weeks between races. So what they did was move the San Antonio back to the same day as the Strub. But that cannibalized the product, leaving two very week fields in those two races, so they went ahead and got rid of the Strub. The Malibu survives as a vestige of the series.
