Sigh.
I miss when the best U.S. dirt fillies and mares raced 10 furlongs and more. 🏇
I miss when the best U.S. dirt fillies and mares raced 10 furlongs and more. 🏇
Reposted from
Daily Racing Form
"Delaware Handicap moved to September, shortened to 1 1/8 miles"
Matt Hegarty has the news. #RacingSky 🏇
www.drf.com/news/delawar...
Matt Hegarty has the news. #RacingSky 🏇
www.drf.com/news/delawar...
Comments
Precocious speed-oriented breeders refused to support a 12-furlong Classic when Gaines put the Breeders' Cup together ... so we've had 40 years of diminishing what top Thoroughbreds are expected to do. Oof. 🏇
I can live with a 10f BC Classic. But there should have been a 12f-16f Marathon from the beginning of the Breeders Cup as well.
Racing 10f requires a balance of speed & stamina. We have lots of sprints to ID sources of speed, where are the distance races to ID stamina?
Man o' War, Citation, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, & many others won graded stakes sprints AND 12 furlong or more graded stakes.
True brilliance + true stamina from going a whole *quarter mile longer* than the Classic requires.
Oh well, maybe in The Universe Next Door… 🏇🏻
A 16-furlong Marathon plus a 12 furlong Classic would reward ALL the best in Thoroughbred types. 🏇
Classic = best who have brilliance + stamina.
Marathon = true other end of pendulum from the Sprint.