The article, by Julian Muscat, from today's RP:
Champions Day has helped dull Breeders’ Cup sparkle
Something had to give. There are only so many good horses to go round, and the principal sufferer within an increasingly cluttered autumnal programme is undoubtedly the Breeders’ Cup.
What was once a magnet for Europe’s finest horses is in danger of becoming a graveyard to the cause of international competition. Where the likes of Dancing Brave, Dayjur Giant’s Causeway, Miesque, Pebbles, Rock Of Gibraltar and Sakhee once trod, Europeans are treading no longer.
That won’t stop the Americans hyping it for more than it is worth, but a look at the European absentees tells the sorry story The self-styled World Thoroughbred Championships will have a hollow ring.
Among leading three-year-olds there will be no Frankel, no Dream Ahead, no Excelebration, no Danedream, no Nathaniei, no Immortal Verse, no Reliable Man and no Moonlight Cloud. Only Sea Moon and Strong Suit; neither of them a Group 1 winner. It’s the same with our best older horses. No Cirrus Des Aigles, no Workforce, no Twice Over, no Snow Fairy and no Dick Turpin. Only So You Think, Midday and Goldikova, for whom the lure is a slice of Breeders’ Cup history What will that be worth ten years from now?
In truth, it has been a transformation waiting to happen. The vexed question of raceday medication has always rested uneasily on European shoulders. The ‘when in Rome’ never worked. Andre Fabre1 the most successful European trainer at the Breeders’ Cup, has always left bute and lasix in the vets’ cupboard.
The medication issue polarises opinion to the extent that reduced European participation will pass unlamented by many But the denouement came with the advent of Chan ions Day, which was long overdue. It was absurd that our finest horses went for their swansongs to race in unfamiliar conditions on tracks bearing no resemblance to the ones on which they forged their reputations.
In some ways, though, that was the attraction. It was the ultimate challenge for horses who had carded all before them on European playgrounds. It asked different questions. Horses bereft of early pace were forced to sit and suffer beholden to the steely nerve of their jockeys and a good deal of luck.
And of course, underpinning it all was the essence of international -competition. It pitted the best from one continent against another. It was an equine Ryder Cup that never quite capitalised on a theme that has made golf’s version one of the most compelling of sporting contests.
Champions Day alone is not responsible for the Breeders’ Cup’s fall from grace. There were always issues with a registration process that penalised failure to comply with supplementary entry fees punitive to all hut the richest owners,
To this eye, however, the Breeders’ Cup as a forum for international competition collapsed when Americans turned back from the road that was leading to racing on artificial surfaces, rather than dirt. Santa Anita led the way but its Pro-Ride surface was flawed from the start.
The rush to install Pro-Ride was a mistake exacerbated by a lack of investment that saw the surface cause all manner of problems. Any significant lain caused waterlogging that forced the abandonment of several meetings. The safety of the surface was compromised, a return to dirt inevitable.
Racing on ‘synthetics’ offered the solution to the medication issue. If we in Europe could train horses on such surfaces every day, without the need for drugs, the Americans could surely do-likewise. But the debate never got an airing: It was suppressed by the clamour for a return to dirt and with it a return to the problems that prevented Europeans from competing on equal terms.
Where now for the Breeders’ Cup? That’s a tricky one. The steamboat may be too close to the waterfall for redemption. Officials have recently introduced a number of inducements, including the not-inconsiderable concession of drug-flee two-year-old races next year and a drug-free platform for all horses from 2013.
But it might be a case of too little, too late. Rival attractions in the Far East are gaining momentum. Next year the gap between Champions Day and the Breeders’ Cup is just two weeks, as opposed to three. The existing schedule is far too tight for all but the Ballydoyle juggernaut, which has always had more talented horses than there axe races to go around.
To see the Breeders’ Cup emasculated in this way would be a great shame The event served up one of the defining images of the sport, when a European champion two-year-old challenged the best Americans on their surface and swept through from a tailed-off last to win, going further away with every stride, by nearly five lengths.
It’s sobering to think we might never see another like Arazi.
