BREEDERS' A GLOBETROTTING EVENT BIG-MONEY WORLD SHOWCASE TO RETURN TO SOCAL MORE POLISHED.Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer ARCADIA - The Breeders' Cup The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I thoroughbred horse races operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982 by a consortium of North American racing organizations, led by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. is not simply horse racing horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) on a flat track, or among saddled horses over a turf course with at its best, showing off the world's thoroughbred stars in colorful competition in some of sports' prettiest settings as bettors match wits over multimillion-dollar pots. The Breeders' Cup, increasingly, is horse racing, period. Revolutionary when it debuted at Hollywood Park Hollywood Park may be several places:
The eight-race event and the not-for-profit corporation A not-for-profit corporation is a corporation created by statute, government or judicial authority that is not intended to provide a profit to the owners or members. A corporation that is organized to provide profits to its owners or members is a for-profit corporation. that runs it have become a tentacled ten·ta·cled adj. Provided with or having tentacles. Adj. 1. tentacled - having tentacles beast reaching into every corner of the centuries-old sport since merging three years ago with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) is the main governing body of Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States. They are also the main governing body of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. ``league office.'' A former Santa Anita executive described it as a case of ``the tail wagging the dog.'' ``The Breeders' Cup became a leader within the industry, and (its leaders) have power,'' said Tom Knust, who was Santa Anita's racing secretary in 1993 and views the sport from the trenches now as a jockeys' agent. ``They can control what they want within racing. Because it's the biggest day in racing, and it gets so much attention, every (track) wants to host the Breeders' Cup; so you'll do anything you can to get it.'' The springtime Kentucky Derby Kentucky Derby One of the classic U.S. Thoroughbred horse races. It was established in 1875 and run annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs track in Louisville, Ky. With the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, it makes up U.S. racing's coveted Triple Crown. remains horse racing's most famous event, but it's always held at Louisville's Churchill Downs Churchill Downs, Ky.: see Louisville. , is a single race restricted to 3-year-olds and covets its small-time small·time or small-time adj. Informal Insignificant or unimportant; minor: a smalltime actor. small charm. The autumn Breeders' Cup, while still a mystery to some sports fans, extends its influence to every major track in North America, has something for every equine age and gender and aspires to Super Bowl-style polish. When Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, defending Horse of the Year Azeri and European star High Chaparral headline the year's greatest gathering of four-footed celebrities Saturday, that will merely be the public payoff. Owners and trainers plan their seasons around the Breeders' Cup, often passing up early- and mid-year races such as the Santa Anita Handicap The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in the late winter at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses three years old and up, and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during and Hollywood Gold Cup The Hollywood Gold Cup is a Grade I stakes race for thoroughbred horses inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. It was run as a handicap race until 1997 when it was switched to weight-for-age conditions. to save their horses' energy. An executive at a local track complained a few months ago that as a result it's impossible to attract full fields to what should be major races. Voters for season-end championships are influenced enormously by Breeders' Cup results, giving Eclipse Awards to more than half of the day's winners almost every year. To emphasize the point with the force of a blacksmith's hammer, promoters amended the event's official name to ``The Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships,'' though participants, reporters and fans have been able to resist the change. The grandiose-sounding brainchild of Kentucky breeder John Gaines, an idea greeted with skepticism when it was unveiled in 1982 - merely the richest of the events crying out for racing fans' attention - the Breeders' Cup has become the focus of the sport's effort to create televised storylines throughout the year and a chief benefactor of the sport through nearly $20 million in purse supplements to established stakes. Today's swagger was not evident in 1993, when Santa Anita hosted a Breeders' Cup marked by Arcangues' 133-1 shocker shock·er n. One that startles, shocks, or horrifies, as a sensational story or novel. Noun 1. shocker - a shockingly bad person bad person - a person who does harm to others 2. in the Classic and five victories by California-based horses. In '93, Santa Anita was diving into management and ownership upheaval after the death of Robert Strub, the track's president and its co-founder's son. California racing was wrestling with the introduction of intertrack wagering, which cut on-site crowds in half. And the Breeders' Cup was nervous about its public image after seeing horses die on the track in three of the previous four editions. That '93 Breeders' Cup marked the debut of prerace veterinary examinations designed to head off injuries. The races unfolded without incident. ``To say we were sensitive to those issues would be an understatement,'' said D.G. Van Clief Jr., president of Breeders' Cup Ltd. and vice chairman of the NTRA NTRA National Thoroughbred Racing Association NTRA National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (Egypt) NTRA National Training Reform Agenda NTRA Nano Technology Research Association (Korea) . ``In the years since then, we certainly have not become complacent about safety, but the measures we take to make the Breeders' Cup as safe as possible are more routine.'' Santa Anita remains unsettled under the ownership of Frank Stronach's Magna Entertainment, whose track renovations and feud with the NTRA kept the Breeders' Cup from returning sooner. California racing struggles to maintain its traditional high quality in the face of horsemen's rising costs and increased competition for gambling dollars. Meanwhile, the Breeders' Cup appears stronger than ever, establishing total-wagering records four of the past five years (the 2002 pick-six scandal wasn't blamed on the event itself), reaching sponsorship agreements for five of its races (if you have the time, call the main event ``The Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships Classic - Powered by Dodge'') and extending its NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. contract. There is ``a different tone'' from 1993, Van Clief said. ``The event has not only become a fixture in the context of North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. racing. It is now a fixture in the context of global racing. It is arguably the most important day of racing on the calendar. And if we're doing our jobs right, we're a much more sophisticated organization today than we were 10 years ago. ``One of the milestones, I think, is the role the Breeders' Cup played in the launch, design and support of the NTRA - and then our combination with the NTRA - which has moved us from a smaller company that leans on outside consulting services for a lot of the marketing and television and sponsorship expertise to a much more professional staff in-house.'' The result, Van Clief believes, is a growing awareness and understanding of the Breeders' Cup by the general sports public. And Sherwood Chillingworth, executive vice president of the Oak Tree Racing Association The Oak Tree Racing Association is an American not-for-profit corporation that exists to conduct live thoroughbred horse racing in Southern California. History In 1968, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club the operators of Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California decided to - which runs Santa Anita's fall meet and hosts Saturday's event - credits the NTRA and the Breeders' Cup with pulling the sport out of a mid-1990s ``depression.'' ``We hope we'll see the culmination of that here next weekend,'' Chillingworth said. Kevin Modesti, (818) 713-3616 kevin.modesti(at)dailynews.com COUNTDOWN TO BREEDERS' CUP Saturday at Santa Anita racetrack, 10 a.m., TV: Ch. 4 AT A GLANCE --The event: The Breeders' Cup consists of eight races - for top thoroughbreds of different ages, genders and specialties - offering $14 million in purses and year-end championship implications. --Schedule: The 20th Breeders' Cup is Saturday, with the first race scheduled for 9:40 a.m. Entries, jockey engagements and morning-line odds will be made official Wednesday. --On the scene: Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia, host of the 1986 and 1993 Breeders' Cups, expects a crowd of more than 50,000. --Tickets: Seats are sold out, but admission-only tickets at $10 (general) and $25 (clubhouse) are available at the Santa Anita box office through Friday and at the gates At the Gates are a Swedish melodic death metal band. They are one of the forebears of the Gothenburg sound of heavy metal along with other bands of the Gothenburg metal scene like Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. Saturday. --TV: Ch. 4, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide is among the horses headlining the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita. Gail Burton/Associated Press (2) The Breeders' Cup will return to Santa Anita on Saturday, the first time the event will be in Southern California since 1997 at Hollywood Park. Daily News file photo Box: AT A GLANCE (see text) |
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