Quote:
Originally Posted by dilanesp
The Woodward is a prep race. It's like winning the Awesome Again.
|
To call the Woodward a "prep race" for the BC Classic is merely a device to degrade the accomplishment of a horse who wins it . The Woodward was around long before the BC Classic and Awesome Again and can stand on it's own. Prep races, such as the Florida Derby, Santa Anita Derby and the Blue Grass are commonly refereed to as Derby preps and are mainly used for that purpose. Same thing with the Jim Dandy for the Travers. However when referring to a horses career even they are also refereed to by their proper names, especially when a horse wins them. Not every horse who runs in the Woodward uses it to prep for the BC Classic. That is not what it was created for. The is true for the JC Gold Cup, which was part of the NY Fall Championship Season. The way you are using it loosely, any race which precedes a big race, including an allowance race, may be downgraded to a prep. When a Woodward winner goes to stud you do not just refer to them as merely a BC Classic prep winner unless you want to degrade their accomplishment and it is clear how you are using it here. Your referring to the Woodward as a prep, while loosely correct, is not an attempt to best describe it but a lawyers technique to downplay it's importance.
