Thoughts?
Arguments for/against or other changes that should/could be made.
https://www.secretariat.com/kentucky-derby-sprint-ban-is-pointless/
I’m not sure I agree with Steve Haskin on this one.
The points system isn’t perfect, but the elimination of sprints isn’t my complaint with it. I appreciate that we don’t have sprinters with no chance filling the starting gate and causing nothing but traffic and pace meltdowns.
I think his obsession with time is not reflective of the quality of the derbies or the winners. Time only matters when you are in jail.
My criticism of the points system is that it favors the big time connections who can afford to traverse the country chasing the derby trail. We get so few feel good stories of small time trainers with local phenoms who win some stakes and squeak in to the qualifications. Sure, maybe they were just “traffic,” too, but at least it was easy to root for them.
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IMO, the former Derby qualifying system–based on graded stakes earnings from any graded stakes race, held at any track–was much better, and more fair to all participants, than the current point system. The new way gives CDI too much control over which tracks benefit and which lose out, with regard to 3yo colt racing for nearly half the year, every year. It also doesn’t allow trainers to decide for themselves which “road to the Derby” is best suited to their particular horse.
I’m also not in favor of the sprint ban. It makes more sense to me to trust the horses’ trainers to know what they need, rather than having every Derby entrant be forced to travel the same narrow path.
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Yikes. Is everyone having as much trouble posting as I am?
This is another one of my big problems with it. It’s too formulaic, requiring trainers to follow a very specific pathway.
I also dislike the control it gives CDI.
I think it’s funny Haskin “blames” this all on Trinniberg/I’ll Have Another. I’m no Steve Haskin, but I remember the graded stakes/sprint conundrum being discussed heavily for at least a decade prior. When I think of pace meltdowns that prompted this, I think about the likes of Giacomo and Mine That Bird that resulted in huge payouts.
If someone asked me, I think a blend of “win and you’re in” (ala Breeders Cup style) and graded earnings might be a good compromise. That way CDI can still prop up the races and tracks they want to support, but people have options. Maybe that makes it all too complicated, though.
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