Breeders Cup

[Iride]

@JAM;5210366

I find it hard to watch the Breeders Cup in light of the fact that, almost every year, there is at least one race and sometimes more in which a horse breaks down on the track.

Seconding this motion.

[Mara]

I’m tired of the fact that the Breeder’s Cup has become the be-all, end-all of racing.
Races like the Jockey Club Gold Cup are now nothing more than preps for the Breeder’s Cup. None of the Grade I’s run AFTER the cup (like the Matriarch) can draw decent fields because everyone who was anyone just ran on Cup day.

Winning one on Cup day almost guarantees a divisional Eclipse now. So no one risks more than a small handful of races with a good horse - why bother? Win the Cup and all is well.

Don’t even get me started on “Win And You’re In”.

I don’t have any answers. Just posting laments here.

[Glimmerglass]

I have to say this was one observation I didn’t make with the BCC and I’m not sure what race the author was watching: UK The Guardian ‘The Sports Blog’ Nov 9, 2010

American attitudes to the whip are primeval. True, we are very sensitive on the issue in Britain, but Smith’s assault on Zenyatta in the final two furlongs, when he hit her, hard, at least 20 times, was like something from Cheltenham in the bad old days. Yet try as I might, I could not find a word of criticism anywhere in the American media.

If Smith did that to any of the other members of Oprah Winfrey’s “Most Influential Women of the Year”, he’d be locked up. The whip has a place in racing when used with restraint, but there has to be a line between encouragement and abuse, and Smith went well beyond it. Yet the local fans did not seem to notice.

[keepthelegend]

[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;5216129]
I have to say this was one observation I didn’t make with the BCC and I’m not sure what race the author was watching: UK The Guardian ‘The Sports Blog’ Nov 9, 2010[/QUOTE]

Well, it is true, Smith did hit her hard at least 20 times. But that’s just American racing, we don’t have the same whip restraints as the UK, so maybe it does look excessive to someone over there.

[VirginiaBred]

I also saw him hit her some as well, but the jockey just on the other side and slightly behind was hitting his horse at the same time and it appeared to be Mike when it wasn’t.

[danceronice]

I don’t understand the aversion to whips. Your hand doesn’t send the message. What’s the alternative? If they’re not bleeding, it’s not hurting anything. They’re HORSES. They have thick hides.

[Drvmb1ggl3]

[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;5216129]
I have to say this was one observation I didn’t make with the BCC and I’m not sure what race the author was watching: UK The Guardian ‘The Sports Blog’ Nov 9, 2010[/QUOTE]

It’s been a huge topic of discussion on racing forums on the other side of the pond since last Sat.
I guess if you’re used to that kind of whip action, it doesn’t seem unusual, so you don’t notice it. However, that excessive use of the whip would be a two week ban in many places, esp in GB as the likes of Bailey and Stevens found out in their stints overseas, and both those guys would have been considered on the moderate side.

[keepthelegend]

[QUOTE=danceronice;5216365]
I don’t understand the aversion to whips. Your hand doesn’t send the message. What’s the alternative? If they’re not bleeding, it’s not hurting anything. They’re HORSES. They have thick hides.[/QUOTE]

I think in England it’s more to appease the PETA types who are much more active in protesting - which is why the whip rules were made. The funny this is that England is also much more on top of jockeys who DON’T ride out to the finish.