MIAMI, March 15--Calder is taking it right to Gulfstream as the tracks barrel toward their head-to-head conflict in July.
Calder has positioned its biggest day of the summer, The Summit of Speed, for July 6, the first Saturday the tracks are scheduled to run opposite each other. To be fair, the Summit card, which includes four graded and one listed stakes, was run on the corresponding Saturday last year. But with the potential conflict, you have to ask if it would have been prudent to go unopposed a week earlier. As it stands, the best racing day of the summer will be overshadowed by the first head-to-head competition.
Calder also has multiple stakes days planned for three subsequent Saturdays during July and August. If nothing else, this will deplete the availability of quality runners in South Florida, which are in short supply in any case during the summer. What might be left for Gulfstream is a matter of conjecture.
Calder also has moved three big stakes days, with five graded events, from November last year to December 2013, Gulfstream’s winter season kickoff month. However, there are gaps in Calder’s November schedule, which seem to have been strategically conceived to allow these stakes to relocate back to where they have been.
This might be a sign that Churchill Downs Inc., Calder’s parent, still believes a compromise can be reached before Floridageddon. The consensus viewpoint around both tracks is that Gulfstream owner Frank Stronach will come up with the right dollar figure to get Churchill Downs Inc. to step aside on weekends, so that Gulfstream can run unopposed.
When Stronach made his move on December two years ago, Churchill huffed and puffed, bellowed and threatened, but ultimately took the money and didn’t run.
This seems to be the only immediate solution. The strong-willed Stronach is as adamant as Custer that he is going to do what he is going to do.
Since he became involved in race track ownership, Stronach has belly-ached about not being allowed to operate his business whenever the fit takes him, as he could in other fields. In laissez faire Florida, he has finally found the place where he can do it—at least in the short term. It remains unthinkable that the state will allow him to destroy a $5 billion industry.
This isn't just a South Florida issue. If the dispute lingers, there could be repercussions that impact the Triple Crown. Would Churchill downgrade Kentucky Derby points for major 3-year-old races at Stronach-owned Gulfstream and Santa Anita, costing them marquee horses? Unthinkable? Did Churchill cut out the Illinois Derby because of a beef with Hawthorne? Has the Louisiana Derby been upgraded to top tier because it is owned by Churchill? Anything is possible.
There would be legal complications to racing’s Corleones and Tattaglias carving up the territory during the year that starts July 1, because the deadline for requesting 2013-14 dates has passed. Also, Calder is obligated to run 80 days a year to keep its Calder and Tropical licenses and the casino attached to it, which Churchill has made clear is its priority.
But the state will likely be willing to bend some rules to avoid a scorched earth war. The legislature is in session, so the arbitrary cutoff for dates requests could be changed. Also, Calder could fulfill the casino mandate by racing on weekdays.
Calder’s stakes schedule is a non-issue. Gulfstream has announced nothing special for the summer, so the added-money races could be moved across town, where they would be more than welcome.
The British aren’t coming: A new headache has emerged for the Breeders’ Cup. The British have announced a Champions Weekend to start in 2014. Six Group 1 races, corresponding to Breeders’ Cup races, will be contested on Oct. 17-18. In all likelihood this will be two weeks before the Breeders’ Cup.
The chances of a top Euro running in both events, two weeks apart, would be slim and none--and slim is scratched.
I suggested a couple of weeks ago that the Breeders’ Cup should consider moving the event weekend back to the two days after Thanksgiving. That Friday is one of the few non-official holiday dates when millions of people have the day off from work. In addition, the competition from televised college football is substantially less.
Not that it would be much of a consideration considering the mutually strained relationship with NYRA but if the Breeders’ Cup ever does decide it would like to bring the championship races back to the nation’s biggest market, another obstacle has arisen. The first weekend in November is set in stone for the New York Marathon, which fills thousands of hotel rooms throughout the metropolitan area. So a later Breeders’ Cup would be a necessity.
Two apparently obvious drawbacks are non-starters. Since this would take place after daylight savings time ends, lights would be a necessity. But temporary lights have been in use for years at football stadiums. Moreover, NBC’s desire to have at least the Classic in prime time would obligate NYRA to install lights in any event.
As for the threat of bad weather, NYRA has staged a big weekend around Thanksgiving, headed by the Cigar Mile, for years without serious weather issues.
The extra three weeks a Thanksgiving weekend would create between the Breeders’ Cup and the later season climax for Euros is one more reason to consider the move.
15 Mar 2013 at 01:07 pm | #
Re: British aren’t coming section, there are a few major issues you have glossed over. First, Champions Weekend is simply an expansion and small realignment of what has already been happening for the last couple years. Because of how well it’s done, and it is a great day of racing, some of the races for older horses have been upgraded to Group 1 level. I believe they are also moving the juvie races back a week, which last couple years were run at Newmarket, to be held the day before. They had a very nice card last year and I expect it just to get better. BC isn’t and never really was a World Championship event. Closest thing to that happens in a couple weeks and they don’t run on dirt anymore.
As to moving the BC back to Thanksgiving Weekend and running it in NY, my responses to your “non-starters” are the following:
1) It is not a simple matter of bringing in temporary lights. NY State Law currently does not permit t-breds to run at night. Somebody better get the grease out if this is going to be changed.
2) Where are you going to run? Belmont? Do you have any idea how cold Belmont is at that time of year, even if the weather is good? First off, there is no heat. Second, the grandstand is positioned to put the seating area in shade, because it is designed as a summer track. Unless there is some freak warming trend in the weather at that time of year, which has happened a few times, it would be a miserable experience for the crowd. I was there in 2005 and the biggest seller that day was a souvenir scarf and they ran out of hot drinks. And that was a month earlier than what you are talking about.
If it’s going to run in NY again in the near future, it will have to go back to the last weekend in October.
15 Mar 2013 at 03:01 pm | #
I’ll give you your Euro-centrism in regard to the late season races vs. the Breeders’ Cup. My point is the British races are going to be run later than ever.
Myself, I wouldn’t care if all the Euros stayed home. It’s nice to have them, it adds an international flavor but my day wouldn’t be ruined without them.
You make good points about New York. My kneejerk reaction was why Belmont. The BC has been run at Aqueduct. I was there. Then I remembered that horse racing has been pushed out of most of the Big A by slots.
I’m not sure creature comfort is a major consideration. Remember they are going to stage a Super Bowl outdoors in the NY metropolitan area next February. Besides the real heavy hitters dine behind glass and the clubhouse is enclosed.
If I had to bet a pile of money on the BC moving up a week back into October against it never returning to NY, my money would be on the latter.
15 Mar 2013 at 03:43 pm | #
No Tom, they aren’t later. Champions Day last year was the same weekend calendar wise and was run on 10/20/2012. Frankel’s last victory for the trivia buffs. 2yo races are a week later now, true. I believe they probably care a lot more about their timing against Arc Day than BC Weekend as far as that goes.
If you don’t care about any foreign horses showing, then I will look forward to your column later this year deriding them referring to it as a World Championship. Making a World Champion out of a 1 1/4 m race on the dirt makes about as much sense to me as calling the Ravens World Champions....
And speaking of football, Superbowl in New York is not about an outside event by any means. Superbowl is a weeklong festival with plenty of events all over the host city leading up to the game. And even at the game, which is about half the time as a full card of racing, patrons will still have the opportunity to go inside and warm up. This game was given to NY simply to throw a bone to the Jets and Giants ownership for building a stadium without public financing. Belmont in November would be two extremely cold days with nowhere to warm up for the majority of the patrons.
I do agree that NY is not likely to see a BC any time soon. The move to November and prime time finish pretty much has assured that.
15 Mar 2013 at 03:55 pm | #
I’ll bow to your knowledge of Euros if you give me mine with American sports.
The Breeders’ Cup is as much a celebration throughout the week as the Super Bowl. It also isn’t a shorter day in the seats than the BC. Attendees get there about three hours before kickoff and with the elongated halftime extravaganza it is more than a 4-hour game.
Where exactly are the fans going to warm up. The only place I can think of is the restrooms. They have those at the Breeders’ Cup, too.
As for World Championships, I rarely, if ever, use that term. But any sports event can call itself whatever it wants. It’s up to the fans to recognize the boast or laugh at it.
One final thing. Until someone demonstrates superiority at American football, the Ravens are the world champions.
15 Mar 2013 at 07:11 pm | #
“The Breeders’ Cup is as much a celebration throughout the week as the Super Bowl.”
Sorry, but not even close. I won’t deny it’s a weeklong celebration and brings out the who’s who in racing circles and likely is a good time, but the Superbowl brings out the who’s who in America.
“It also isn’t a shorter day in the seats than the BC.”
Yes, but it isn’t two days in the seats and I wouldn’t expect nearly as much outdoor activity in the Meadowlands as you would get in a dome. Could be wrong, but doubting it.
“Where exactly are the fans going to warm up.”
They have actual stores in the new stadium. Haven’t been there but I’m willing to bet there is heating in areas throught the plant.
“Until someone demonstrates superiority at American football, the Ravens are the world champions. “
Well, Sydney is then the world champions of Australian Rules Football until someone else demonstrates superiority then too....
16 Mar 2013 at 01:31 pm | #
I seem to remember seeing quite a few mega-millionaires and billionaires at the Breeders’ Cup. Celebrities, too, and not just the stars of a sitcom that happens to air on the network carrying the Super Bowl.
70,000-plus fans and a few stores. Yeah, they all should be able to warm up.
You are wrong about the time in the seats. Even if you arrive only an hour before kickoff, which is all but mandatory, you will be there more than five hours--in your seat. At the BC, you can get up and go inside between races.
I have no probelm with Sydney being world champions of Aussie football, if they play the game better than anyone else.
16 Mar 2013 at 06:12 pm | #
Tom,
Just wondering, who do you think is more opinionated,tv viewers or horse players?
16 Mar 2013 at 06:40 pm | #
I think every horse player is a TV viewer, although, alas, it is not the other way around.
Horse players have to put their money where their mouths are, so I’ll go with them.
18 Mar 2013 at 10:25 pm | #
Perhaps we should get ready for the Calder/Gulfstream 7 and 7 like the Ohio tracks do. In all honesty, Churchill probably wouldn’t mind GETTING RID OF HORSE RACING IN SOUTH FLORIDA. Churchill is a gaming company, not a horse racing company. They are trying to sound tough just to get a better deal. Get ready for the Tropical at Calder at Gulfstream meet.
Calder will get to hold on to the casino and simulcasting. Maybe they’ll keep the track as a training center. Now, what will Hialeah’s move once this happens?
19 Mar 2013 at 09:35 am | #
The Ohio 7/7 struck me as a solution, too. I haven’t brought it up because my gut feeling is there will be a settlement that will preclude head-to-head racing.
The consensus thinking is, as I wrote, Frank Stronach will say the right $$$ number and Churchill/Calder will step aside...at least on weekends.
Hialeah is just sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what happens. If the head-to-head does happen, count on Hialeah going to the legislature and pleading that deregulation of dates doesn’t work.