ARCADIA — The question that’s raised virtually every year surfaced again Thursday morning when trainers Todd Pletcher and Graham Motion were asked if The Great Race Place was so great that it deserved to host the Breeders’ Cup World Championships every year.
Santa Anita Park is hosting the event this week for a record third consecutive year and eighth time overall, tied with Churchill Downs for most ever. After a one-year hiatus, it will return to Arcadia again in 2016.
New York hasn’t hosted a Breeders’ Cup since 2005 when it was held at Belmont Park. Granted, NYRA has had its problems recently and reports are it didn’t even bid for one of the next three Breeders’ Cups earlier this year. But it’s still surprising the nation’s largest market hasn’t hosted what is horse racing’s version of the Super Bowl in nine years.
While both Pletcher and Motion say they enjoy the experience at Santa Anita, they’d like to see it spread around more often. Monmouth Park was the last track other than Santa Anita or Churchill Downs to host a Breeders’ Cup in 2007, and we all know how that turned out. With all the rain the New Jersey track absorbed over the two days, it’s surprising the winner of the Classic wasn’t named Noah’s Ark.
“I’ve always been for it being at Santa Anita, I just wish it wasn’t at Santa Anita every year,” Pletcher said. “It’s clearly an advantage if you don’t have to ship. It’s an advantage to the guys who are based here. Santa Anita’s a fantastic place to have it. It’s a great climate, a beautiful race track and all that, but I’d love to see it on the East Coast every once in a while, too.”
Next year’s event is scheduled for Keeneland, the first time the Kentucky-based track will host a Breeders’ Cup. Del Mar will get its first turn to host the World Championships in 2017, but there’s been no mention of a return to the East Coast despite Breeders’ Cup president and CEO Craig Fravel’s stance that all major tracks will be considered for the future.
“Certainly there are those on the East Coast and the Midwest and elsewhere in this country who are disappointed that the Breeders’ Cup hasn’t been back to some of those locations,” Fravel said. “I wouldn’t call it hate mail, but I get disappointment mail on occasion. Disappointment email, and I think the message for those people is next year we’re heading that direction at Keeneland. We’ve already got enormous amounts of interest in attending the Breeders’ Cup in 2015, so hopefully they get the opportunity to visit us there.
“It’s awfully nice to be wanted, but you do reduce your weather risk a little bit by being here in Southern California. There might be a little higher earthquake risk, but in general I think a lot of people, particularly our friends from overseas, are very pleased when they leave colder climates and show up here for a little bit of a vacation along with a great horse race.”
Motion echoed Pletcher’s sentiments.
“I think this is a fantastic place,” he said. “I think everyone wants to be here. I certainly wouldn’t complain about it being here again next year, but I did like it when it moved around. I was pretty partial to when the Breeders’ Cup was in Texas (Lone Star Park in 2004). It kind of added something to it when we went to some of those different tracks. It would be nice to have it closer to home occasionally.”
Bob Baffert, based year-round in Southern California, disagrees with Pletcher’s assessment that local trainers enjoy an advantage when the Breeders’ Cup is held at their track.
“I think the only advantage you have is if the horse has been successful, if he’s run a race on that track or has run well on that surface,” he said. “Todd Pletcher brought that 2-year-old filly (Angela Renee) in here and she just won the (Chandelier Stakes) really handily. In the old days there might have been (an advantage), but not anymore.”
Advantage or not, Fravel keeps going back to the weather and scenic beauty when the debate rages.
“When I got up this morning and walked outside to look at the San Gabriel Mountains and the temperature was going to be about 78 degrees and perfect weather, I got to see the backdrop that’s going to show up on NBC Television,” he said shortly after arriving in town. “It reinforces one of the reasons why we’re here at Santa Anita … I think Mark Twain probably said it best, ‘A difference of opinion is probably what makes a horse race.’”
And a good debate.
Follow Art Wilson on Twitter at @Sham73
