Harness: Potential new concept for the Breeders Crown

As last week's Breeders Crown final inevitably proved elimination races should be taken with a grain of salt. Of course, for an industry trying to find common ground with bettors on all fronts the elimination races were an unreliable wagering vehicle while the finals were more formful. It's a scene we've seen repeated over and over through the years with an apparent no end in sight as entry fees garnered from elimination races go a long way towards insuring that purse levels for major races remain at least as high as a year before. Lost over the years of such standards has been the downside that bettors have become so accustomed to that they fail to show up in a major way one week prior to races like the Breeders Crowns.

Is there nothing that can be done to change elimination races for future Breeders Crown?

The answer depends on how important wagering is to the race or for that matter the industry. Watching Niki Hill and Jujubee take entirely different battle plans to the track just seven days apart is hard to swallow for those caught in the chalk dust on first bite and despite the numerous explanations given for each of their failures a week earlier the clear difference in both winning Breeders Crown races was a no-holds-barred attack by drivers Dexter Dunn and Andy McCarthy in the early stages of the final and a willingness to go as fast as necessary for front-end privilege.

There's no point in crying over spilled milk but perhaps there is a point in rescuing future generations of bettors from dealing with the elimination-to-final form reversals.

From a purse structure the Breeders Crown depends heavily on entry fees and it's understandable why there would be resistance to change but what if there was a way to get even more entry fees without holding elimination races seven days before the finals?

A vision for the future may also be paved with a road that insists horses not just finish in the top seven or eight in a race to qualify for the final but instead requires horses to finish FIRST in key races throughout the season.

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The idea here is to open the gates to a potential for more horses to enter and allow owners and trainers to take multiple shots at securing a spot in the Breeders Crown finals. What if Breeders Crown qualifiers took place on four different dates and in four different locations well in advance of the finals with only the winning horses getting a spot in the final? Entry fees would be taken prior to each elimination race with losers in the first round granted second and perhaps third shots (with additional entry fees) in later rounds. Perhaps, in an effort to encourage multiple locations of increased participation, these Breeders Crown qualifiers could be held in localities where Sire Stakes races keep horses rooted. The idea would be one qualifier location in Indiana, one in Ohio/Pennsylvania, another in New York/New Jersey and the fourth in Ontario. The races in each location would not be restrictive to owners or trainers in those locations. Instead, anyone interested in trying a second or third time for a chance to reach the Breeders Crown by winning a qualifier could enter any locale with just an entry fee. A total of eight qualifiers could be reached ideally in each division assuring that finalists are secured well before a theoretical elimination race weekend the week before Breeders Crown finals.

This would still clear a path for horses to reach the final in actual elimination races, but it would dramatically revamp what those races would in fact look like. Under this concept there would likely be just two spots to fill in the finals and thus any elimination race(s) would be a "win and get in" style of event that would be much more interesting to racing fans and bettors alike and not give drivers the leeway to race easily one week and much harder the next.

Of course, it would be understandable if some squawked if in some ways this removed perhaps the best horses in the world because they refused to skip a better payday along the way just to participate in a Breeders Crown qualifying event. A modification could be reached where the top money earners four weeks removed from the Breeders Crown final could be granted admission to the race. In my mind that privilege shouldn't come free but require these top earners to pay a higher entry fee than those who sacrificed a week racing in trials.

Since entry fees tend to be rather steep one week prior to the Breeders Crown it would make sense to roll back the fees when considering qualifying rounds much earlier in the year thus encouraging more participation and perhaps over the course of the year increased contribution to Breeders Crown finals.

In the end from a purely bettors' perspective aligning the interests of those wagering on the race with the drivers, trainers and owners is paramount to creating a winning formula whatever anyone is willing to accept. What is clear is that our current equation tends to victimize bettors and is not the best way to sell the sport. For years the idea of "going easy" in eliminations has been reviewed and ignored as the long-term interests of breeders, owners, trainers and drivers won the argument.

It's 2021 and competition from other forms of gambling has never been higher. To simply turn the calendar and not address a material change would be negligent. While many tracks, including the Meadowlands have looked to abandon the need for elimination races by granting the top 10 earners a direct path to the final, the Breeders Crown would eliminate the chance of any late-developing horse an opportunity to race and win a divisional title if it took that road.

It's a challenge for sure to get all parts of the industry to agree on anything. Hopefully they will agree that our elimination races over the years have eliminated more gamblers than they have horses.