Graded stakes at SA

[bane]

I was going through the Graded Stakes list at Santa Anita and holy crap, now granted the list included Oak Tree but there was a lot. To add to that, most of these graded stakes are really jokes now. Hopefully the transition to dirt helps the track out and returns the fields and quality back to what it was these races shouldn't be graded. Or ..let me change that... these races shouldn't be graded as so many other deserving races are not graded.

Anybody else here thinking we need to review these races at Santa Anita and make some ungraded?

[MickJ26]

I agree, Bane.
There's a bunch at Keeneland they can throw in there too.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by bane

Anybody else here thinking we need to review these races at Santa Anita and make some ungraded?

I think whenever a race changes tracks or surfaces, the grading should be withheld for at least 5 runnings. ALL the graded stakes in California should have been taken back when the plastic was laid down. Ditto Kee.

[andymays]

Originally Posted by Tom

I think whenever a race changes tracks or surfaces, the grading should be withheld for at least 5 runnings. ALL the graded stakes in California should have been taken back when the plastic was laid down. Ditto Kee.

Absolutely. The Jockey Club dropped the ball on this one.

[bane]

Not to be picking on Cali but it's racing product has dropped big time, these graded races don't have crap for fields.

The only reason I knock them is because we have states like New Mexico, Delaware, Penn and West Virginia that can support better races and have races not graded that should be, yes I noticed slots are playing here, but I could care less. Slots are a band-aide.

[andymays]

Originally Posted by bane

Not to be picking on Cali but it's racing product has dropped big time, these graded races don't have crap for fields.

The only reason I knock them is because we have states like New Mexico, Delaware, Penn and West Virginia that can support better races and have races not graded that should be, yes I noticed slots are playing here, but I could care less. Slots are a band-aide.

Bane the quality of racing has dropped several levels in the last few years.

they're more concerned about the quality of the concerts.

[classhandicapper]

I think several divisions are clearly weaker than average, but I see this as being as much a cyclical thing as it is related to the surface or the general condition of CA racing.

It also has a lot to do with the fact that the BC is on dirt this year.

Some of the better CA horses are racing in the east now (the leading 3YO of both sexes) because there are more opportunities for them in the east at this point in the calendar and they will race in the BC later on. Rail Trip has also moved east for that reason etc...