Quote:
Originally Posted by dilanesp
It shouldn't be a Grade I. I suspect the only reason it still is, is sentiment. Indeed, the Hollywood Gold Cup (which faces less competition on the calendar) is now a better race.
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The Hollywood Gold Cup is not the better race; in fact it is the first of the 2 to be demoted to a Grade 2 race starting this year.
It
was the better race starting circa 1989 up through the synthetic era. Starting in 1989, the Big Cap for most editions starting producing one-off winners: Martial Law, Sir Beaufort, Malek, Stuka, Urgent Request, Mr. Purple, Heatseeker, Misremembered, etc.
However, since transferring to Santa Anita, the Gold Cup has been a joke:
Majestic Harbor - an allowance horse at the time of winning
Hard Aces - an allowance horse
Melatonin - an allowance horse
Cupid - a Grade 2 horse
Accelerate - a Grade 2 horse that had a good year once Gun Runner & Arrogate retired
Vino Rosso - a Grade 2 horse
Improbable - a Grade 2 horse
Country Grammer - a Grade 3 horse
There Goes Harvard - an allowance horse
Defunded - a Grade 2 horse
The Gold Cup was gutted by the loss off its historically strong preps in the Californian & Mervyn Leroy. Again, the SA braintrust just shoehorned it into the stakes schedule with no real plan.
Both races ought to be Grade 3s. The resistance to downgrade is probably due to both being part of just 4 remaining major dirt stakes at 10 furlongs in this country outside the BC Classic (the Pacific Classic & JCGC being the others).
