The Week in Review: There are Just Too Many Stakes Races

[Wandering Eyes]

They got just four horses for the $100,000 Los Alamitos Derby Saturday, hardly a surprise since most stakes run at Los Al wind up with depressingly small fields. The Ashley T. Cole S. at Aqueduct attracted a field of five. At Laurel, the Deputed Testamony drew five starters and so did the Alma North S. Only four ran in the DeFrancis Memorial Dash. At least Laurel had an excuse as a number of horses expected to be shipping down from New York had to be scratched because of the quarantine situation at the NYRA tracks.

This was not an aberration. Every weekend, you find dirt stakes races with fields of four and five. And no one is having a harder time attracting big fields to its dirt stakes than NYRA. Since Jan. 1, NYRA has run 18 stakes on the dirt that had fields of five or fewer. That doesn't count two grass stakes, the GII Man o'War S and the GII Fort Marcy S., both of which drew five horses. Plenty of other tracks, especially  Santa Anita, are having similar problems.

The problem, everyone seems to think, is that with the foal crop dropping each year there are not enough good horse to go around to fill all the stakes. That's absolutely true. But there's another way of looking at it–there needs to be a substantial cut in the number stakes that are offered to even things out. When was the last time a track announced that it was cutting five or six stakes from its schedule?

Take the Tremont S. and the Astoria S., run this year during the Belmont Festival at Saratoga. The Tremont had a field of five and the Astoria also had five horses.

The Tremont was first run in 1887. The race was not held from 2009-2013, but returned in 2014. In the 11 runnings since (the Tremont was not run in 2020), the race has averaged 6.09 starters. There have been three four-horse fields and one five-horse field. It's a race that no longer fits the needs of New York horsemen. They are not getting their juveniles geared up until Saratoga and a stakes races in June for 2-year-olds comes way too early for most. The same can be said for the Astoria, which was also not held from 2009-2013. The purse for both races is $150,000.

It would be one thing if these races were won by New York horses. But they are not. Out-of-town trainers know that they can pick up an easy and lucrative stakes win because it's unlikely that any of New York's top stables will have 2-year-olds ready this early. Of the 11 runnings of the Tremont since 2014, eight have been won by trainers who do not regularly race in New York.

Would anyone miss the Tremont S.? No. So why keep running a race year after year that attracts small fields and is won by horses more likely to become claimers than graded stakes winners some day? Would anybody miss the Ladies S. or the Top Flight S., two races this year that drew fields of four? Several of these stakes races should be discontinued and don't be afraid to slash more prestigious races (e.g the GII Woodward). If a race can't average at least seven starters a year, its future needs to be questioned.

You might also want to get TOBA involved. Two races, both run at nine furlongs on the dirt, both with purses of $500,000. Should they be given the same grade if one race attracts 12 runners and the other just five? Many of these are races designed to fit another era, when 40,000 or more horses were foaled each year in the U.S. The number is down to 16,675 and it's just going to continue to get smaller every year.

Take the savings you'll get when cutting stakes races and either add the money to overnight purses or raise the purse of stakes that traditionally draw big, quality fields.

Mindframe Goes to the Head of the Class

Churchill Downs put together a spectacular card Saturday, highlighted by the GI Stephen Foster S. The six horses who ran had earned a combined $22 million. Going in it looked like whoever won the race would be considered the top older dirt male in training.

And it was Mindframe (Constitution), who scored a decisive win over 2024 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone (Gun Runner). Co-owner Mike Repole was predictably effusive, going to X to sing the praises of his classy colt.

“Yesterday was an amazing day!!!!! Mindframe is a SUPERstar,” he wrote. “Winning back-to-back Grade Is, one sprinting at 7f and one at the 1 1/8 distance… I'm not sure of the last horse that has accomplished that feat.”

This is a terrific group of older horses and the race didn't include GI Metropolitan H. winner Raging Torrent (Maximus Mischief) or Met Mile runner-up and Mindframe's stablemate Fierceness (City of Light). The Aug. 2 GI Whitney S. at Saratoga promises to be a fabulous race.

The Old Man Comes up Just Short at Evangeline

How can you not like Don'task Don'ttell (To Honor and Serve)? Now 11, he finished second in a $15,000 claimer Saturday night at Evangeline Downs. It was his 62nd start and the 38th time he's finished in the top three. He's won 21 times, 19 of the wins coming on the grass.

“He is a cool horse,” trainer Eric Nelson, Jr. said. “He's bounced around and Steve Asmussen had him most of the time. But I think whatever barns he's been in, he's been taken care of. It's just fun to watch him run. When you see him you wouldn't say, 'Wow, this horse is really ready to run.' He's just there. When it's time to run, though, he's all business.”

In many states there is an age restriction in place. For instance, in New York, no horse can race once they turn 10. Nelson said he's not sure what the rule is in Louisiana.

“I don't have a lot of owners or money behind me. I have to take care of what I have,” Nelson said. “I have retired plenty over the years. If it ever comes a time where it's not fair to the horse to keep running him, he can move on to another career.”

Nelson says that not everyone thinks it's such a good idea to keep this horse running at this age.

“A lot of people say it's cruel to keep running him,” Nelson said. “But I've seen a lot of people retire them on a farm, and they're no longer in their everyday-routine that they had at the barn. They no longer have people rubbing them and bathing them and feeding them and spoiling them. They are herd animals and with some, when you get them out of the routine, for the first little they're thrilled to be out in a pasture and then all of a sudden they get bored and get depressed.”

Nelson doesn't see any signs of the horse slowing down.

“He's done everything I asked of him and he's showed no signs of any decline,” he said. “I think he loves his job and he looks forward to going out there in the morning and training. He's enjoying his life. We take good care of him. I think he can win another race or two this year. The guy [Stacy Kent Lewis] that owns him, he's not in this for the money. He's in it because he loves racing. He claimed a 10-year-old for $20,000, and not many people are going to do that. Whenever it's time, we'll find him a place to go. I  hope he goes to a young girl who will spoil him to death.”

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