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Originally Posted by classhandicapper
How many trainers are going to try the Whitney/Gold Cup double?
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That wasn't the point of moving the JCGC in my opinion. They are trying to preserve its graded stakes status by basically swapping the names. The JCGC was in a more tenuous position than the Woodward based on the most recent renewals. Furthermore, the JCGC is a Win-and-You're In race and the calendar switch to 6-8 weeks out make sense since the current conventional stupidity of our top trainers is to sit on horses for that long ahead of the BC.
Will the Woodward in October suffer the same fate? Maybe, but perhaps NYRA will be promoting the race more as a BC prep (especially at 9f) and try and secure Win-and-You're In status for the Woodward, too. At any rate, it can afford a couple of weak renditions and not lose its Grade 1 status in the short-term.
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I get the thinking, but if NYRA and horsemen consider the Gold Cup more prestigious than the Woodward and want to keep it as an elite prestigious race, some trainers may now pass on the Whitney to run in the JCGC for a million instead. That could dilute the Whitney.
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Maybe the Whitney winner won't move on to the JCGC but the also-rans might if they are trying to get that Win-and-You're In free ride to the BC.
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I go to the Whitney every year. Maybe in the future it will be the Gold Cup.
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Why not go to both?
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This is a problem without a good solution. The Belmont fall meet is not what it once was because of the Breeder's Cup, but you can only sandwich so much into Saratoga or you'll wind up diluting the quality and field size of other races because of race spacing.
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Sounds like your solution is to do away with the Woodward or any older horse stakes at the end of the Saratoga meet. The race meet lasts for a 50-day stretch or so; 2 races per division per meet should never have been a problem to begin with.
