NEW NAME, SAME GAME.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI 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 To the age-old question ``What's in a name?'' the people running 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. answer, in a prayerful prayer·ful adj. 1. Inclined or given to praying frequently; devout. 2. Typical or indicative of prayer, as a mannerism, gesture, or facial expression. tone, ``TV ratings.'' They think they put on a good show every fall when they call together most of North America's fastest horses and many of Europe's for eight million-dollar races in some picturesque setting. They also think that outside the racing fold, too few sports fans pay attention to the event, scheduled for the 18th time in October, at New York's Belmont Park Noun 1. Belmont Park - a racetrack for thoroughbred racing in Elmont on Long Island; site of the Belmont Stakes Belmont Elmont - a town on Long Island in New York; site of Belmont Park . 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. has decided, as it is prone to do, that the trouble here lies not in the product but in the package. The NTRA NTRA National Thoroughbred Racing Association NTRA National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (Egypt) NTRA National Training Reform Agenda NTRA Nano Technology Research Association (Korea) , which follows polls more slavishly slav·ish adj. 1. Of or characteristic of a slave or slavery; servile: Her slavish devotion to her job ruled her life. 2. than any White House staff, commissioned a survey and found most people described as ``light'' or ``lapsed'' racing fans fail to grasp the Breeders' Cup's importance. Asked which racing event largely determines the sport's champions, more than 50 percent replied, ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. .'' A smaller percentage said the 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. or the Triple Crown. A much smaller percentage got it right by saying the Breeders' Cup. After some painful soul-searching, it was agreed that the main problem is the event's name, in that it suggests standard equipment for a fertility clinic. The NTRA poll-tested several names that might be more self-explanatory, including National Thoroughbred Racing Championships, National Racing Championships, and Major League Racing. None of these captured the spirit. It settled on a half-measure: Henceforth the richest day in racing will be known officially as the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships. Never mind that the burden of a funny name hasn't slowed the Super Bowl or the World Series - or the Kentucky Derby. Never mind that the Breeders' Cup has no formal role in determining year-end championships here or in Europe. The real trouble with the new name is that nobody is going to use it. Last Sunday, NTRA and Breeders' Cup executives held a news conference at Hollywood Park to explain the name change and other marketing ploys such as the series of 16 ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network telecasts of races leading to the big day in October. Even they didn't use the new name. ``When the Breeders' Cup is run Oct. 27 in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , it will be the best day of racing in the world ...'' NTRA president Tim Smith said. A telecast schedule displayed on a giant video screen showed that Sept. 15 is ``Breeders' Cup Preview Day'' and referred to the main event as the ``Breeders' Cup Championships.'' When you consider there isn't a newspaper in America with enough newsprint to put ``Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships'' in a headline, and that the abbreviation abbreviation, in writing, arbitrary shortening of a word, usually by cutting off letters from the end, as in U.S. and Gen. (General). Contraction serves the same purpose but is understood strictly to be the shortening of a word by cutting out letters in the middle, ``WCT'' sounds like a tennis tour, you realize how impractical this whole exercise is. ``Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships rolls off the tongue only after practicing it a few times,'' admitted D.G. Van Clief Jr., the one-time Hollywood Park exec who is president of Breeders' Cup Ltd. ``We know full well that's a mouthful.'' The original name honors the role thoroughbred breeders play in funding the Breeders' Cup's huge purses by paying early nomination fees. Arcane or not, we're probably stuck with it. It's argued the name change is worthwhile if it gets people talking, even if they're talking about how stupid it sounds. ``Ten years from now, if 40 million people are saying, 'Let's watch the World Thoroughbred Championships,' or if they're still saying, 'Let's watch the Breeders' Cup,' we'll have done our job,'' Van Clief said. A survey probably would show that too few sports fans know who Laffit Pincay is. Maybe the NTRA needs to change his name too. --The weekend: Del Mar will hold Grade I or Grade II stakes every weekend of the seven-week season that opened Wednesday. None will be run faster than Sunday's $200,000 Bing Crosby Handicap. The 6-furlong dash, which produced a then-world record in 1962 when Crazy Kid won in 1:07 4/5, and which routinely tests the 1:08 mark these days, has drawn 2000 winner and national sprint champion Kona Gold for his long-awaited meeting with Caller One. Kona Gold, carrying 126 pounds and Alex Solis, will give a two-pound edge to Caller One, with Corey Nakatani. Kona Gold would be the first repeat winner in the Bing Crosby since Cherry River and Pincay in 1976-77. In Saturday's $400,000 Ramona Handicap, the big fillies-and-mares turf race of the summer, Tranquility Lake, carrying 123 and Eddie Delahoussaye, will give away eight pounds or more to her five opponents. OUT OF THE GATE HOLLYWOOD PARK LEADERS (Final) Jockey Wins Laffit Pincay 64 Alex Solis 63 Tyler Baze 53 Chris McCarron 39 Martin Pedroza 38 Victor Espinoza 35 Eddie Delahoussaye 34 Trainer Wins Jack Carava 22 Bob Baffert 21 Bobby Frankel 17 Richard Mandella 17 Vladimir Cerin 15 Ron McAnally 14 ON THE STAKES SCHEDULE Del Mar Today --$125,000 CTBA CTBA California Thoroughbred Breeders Association CTBA Center for Tax and Budget Accountability CTBA Cuatro Torres Business Area (Madrid, Spain) CTBA Converging Technologies Bar Association CTBA Central Texas Ballooning Association Stakes, 2-year-old fillies bred in California, 5 1/2 furlongs. Saturday --$400,000 Ramona Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 1 1/8 miles on turf. Sunday --$200,000 Bing Crosby Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 6 furlongs. --$100,000 Fleet Treat, 3-year-old fillies bred in California, 7 furlongs. Belmont Park --$350,000 Coaching Club American Oaks The Coaching Club American Oaks is a race for thoroughbred three-year old fillies run at a mile and a quarter on the Belmont Park dirt. The race is the second leg of the Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing. A Grade I stakes, beginning in 2005, it offers a purse of $300,000. , 3-year-old fillies, 1 1/2 miles. Delaware Park --$600,000 Delaware Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 1 1/2 miles. Arlington Saturday --$500,000 Washington Park Handicap The Washington Park Handicap is a race for Thoroughbred horses. The race is open to horses age three and up who are willing to race the one and three-sixteenths mile distance. The race is held each year at Arlington Park, the successor of Washington Park. , 3-year-olds, 1 1/4 miles. Sunday --$250,000 American Derby, 3-year-olds, 1 3/16 miles on turf. PINCAY WATCH Laffit Pincay, who rode three winners as the 43-day Del Mar meet opened Wednesday, seeks his first jockey title there since he captured five between 1976 and 1985. Pincay's record career-victories total is 9,186. A WEEK AT THE RACES At The Races is a British television channel, originally co-founded with Channel 4, but now owned by a partnership between British Sky Broadcasting, Arena Leisure PLC and 28 (out of the 59) UK racecourses. Hollywood Park blamed the elimination of Friday-night racing for a 13 percent decline in on-site attendance to an 8,345 average during the season that ended Monday. Overall wagering dropped two percent to a $10.1 million average. The Inglewood track switched its popular under-the-lights programs to Friday afternoons in anticipation of blackouts that never came. It plans to go back to weekly night racing at future meets. ... Riboletta isn't coming back after all. The champion mare of 2000, put back in training with Eduardo Inda after losing foal foal a junior horse from birth to one year. May be filly foal, colt foal. foal ataxia see enzootic equine incoordination. in Kentucky, reinjured the ankle that forced her retirement in the first place. ... Point Given tops Albert the Great and Tiznow in this week's NTRA media poll. ... New York racing moves from Belmont Park to Saratoga on Wednesday. - Kevin Modesti CAPTION(S): box Box: OUT OF THE GATE (see text) |
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