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News Analysis: Thursday Breeders’ Cup Meeting–Yea or Neigh on 2019 Relocation?


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A Breeders’ Cup Ltd. board meeting scheduled for Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky, could decide whether or not this year’s Nov. 1-2 event will be moved from Santa Anita Park in response to the track’s 30-horse fatality crisis.

The tension surrounding any potential decision to relocate the two-day championships is high, but the organization has a long-standing policy of not  publicly discussing the board’s agenda prior to the meeting.

Earlier this week, the TDN attempted to reach Fred W. Hertrich III, the chairman of the Breeders’ Cup board, to confirm whether moving the championships is actually an official agenda item or if the issue might instead surface in some form of speculative discussion.

In reply, the Breeders’ Cup sent the TDN the following statement via email:

“Breeders’ Cup host site matters are internal and when we have something to announce, we will.”

So in the absence of any official guidance from the Breeders’ Cup, what are the possible options the board might be considering and the pros and cons of each?

The tepid morning-line favorite could be that the board will make no change, and will give Santa Anita a vote of confidence by standing firm behind that site selection.

The upside with staying at Santa Anita is that it avoids the logistical nightmare of moving the massive event on relatively short notice. It also sends the message the board won’t be swayed by alarmist public pressure.

Yet is also means that both the Breeders’ Cup and Santa Anita would have to deal with throngs of anti-racing demonstrators who have picketed and protested outside the track over the past five months.

If the board chose to do so, it could attempt to parlay a stand-pat decision into a “show of strength” public relations message that bolsters the industry as a whole by highlighting the safety and welfare protocols that have been rolled out in California over the past several months.

The obvious risk to that plan is that if there is an equine injury or fatality that plays out on national TV at such a controversial location, the sport can expect a firestorm of negative blowback.

There is also the very real threat that opting out of Santa Anita would be a major systemic blow to all Thoroughbred racing in California, accelerating the state’s already precarious downward spiral of product quality and related betting handle hemorrhage.

Moving the Breeders’ Cup to Churchill Downs is the most talked-about alternative within the industry. Churchill’s ease at accommodating major racing events is a huge plus.

Yet while a Breeders’ Cup in horse-centric Kentucky is sure to offer a more friendly landing spot, it will also lure its own share of protesters, even though the event would be geographically removed from California’s epicenter of turmoil.

But Churchill’s own safety record merits consideration. The Louisville Courier-Journal reported earlier this year that the home of the GI Kentucky Derby lost 43 Thoroughbreds to racing injuries between 2016 and this March, “a 2.42 per 1,000-start average that was 50% higher than the national average during the same three-year span.”

And there is also this flip side to consider: The Breeders’ Cup board might want to relocate to Churchill Downs, but does the management of the publicly traded gambling corporation even want to be the entity that would be in the glare of the anti-racing spotlight?

How about another venue then? Keeneland Race Course’s 2015 hosting was widely considered a success, and the championships at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club went over well in 2017. But those two tracks are already slated to be hosts in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Could an outlier track be in the mix as a relocation candidate?

Arlington Park has both a world-class turf course and a synthetic main-track racing surface, which might help to deflect some of the dirt-track concerns related to safety. And a larger city like Chicago might make for more convenient reshuffling in terms of obtaining the necessary hotel rooms and event space the host site requires. Arlington hosted the 2002 Breeders’ Cup, but that was five years before it switched from a dirt main track to a synthetic one.

Woodbine Racetrack was the Breeders’ Cup host in 1996. It has a 1 1/2-mile turf course, a brand-new inner turf course, and a synthetic main track that was first installed in 2006 (and updated with a different composition 10 years later). Its metro Toronto location also checks the “large city” box regarding being able to handle hosting amenities. But Canada’s weather in early November? That’s dicey.

Belmont Park, a four-time host, has not held a Breeders’ Cup since 2005 and did not submit a bid for the latest round of hosting that extends through 2021. The New York Racing Association has expressed interest in hosting the event if and when Belmont is upgraded, but it appears out of the loop for emergency hosting. The grandstand and clubhouse are not heated, there is a huge hockey arena construction project happening adjacent to the paddock, and New York hotel rooms are scarce because that weekend conflicts with the New York City Marathon.

The management of Laurel Park has expressed a desire over the past several years in hosting a Breeders’ Cup for the first time. But Laurel and Santa Anita share common ownership by The Stronach Group (TSG), and it’s likely that the board would be leery of shifting from one TSG track to another. It’s also a long shot that TSG would welcome hosting the event at Laurel the same year it was jilted at Santa Anita.

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The post News Analysis: Thursday Breeders’ Cup Meeting–Yea or Neigh on 2019 Relocation? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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