Hovdey: Top-shelf racing not quite getting the classic distance

Don’t get me wrong. They were terrific. At Del Mar, Accelerate blew the doors off his opposition in the Pacific Classic, winning by 12 1/2 lengths. At Saratoga, Eskimo Kisses powered home in the Alabama to win by 6 1/2. Provided with dramatic settings, their victories were sweetened by the fact that both were accomplished at the American classic distance of a mile and one-quarter on dirt.

Then again, if a mile and one-quarter on the dirt is really the American classic distance, why are there so few Thoroughbreds who can accomplish the task anymore at a reasonably rapid pace? And why are there so few opportunities for horses to evolve and grow into the distance? Winning mile and one-quarter races used to be a point of pride for owners, trainers, and breeders. But has the mile and one-quarter race become nothing more than a novelty?

With apologies to the mile and one-quarter Travers Stakes, to be run at Saratoga on Saturday, the two races most coveted on the American calendar are the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. However, their mile and one-quarter distance has very little to do with their appeal. The BC Classic is all about the money, period, while the Kentucky Derby has metastasized into a life-altering event of immediate validation that transcends the race itself. Ask around and see how many of non-racing friends know how far those 3-year-olds need to run to achieve immortality.

Accelerate is the best older horse training in California, but he should not be 12 1/2 lengths better than the next best Del Mar could muster. And yes, Eskimo Kisses hit a fat pitch out of the park in the hot-paced Alabama. But after nearly eight months of build-up in a division finally tested at 10 furlongs, should one filly stand as far afield as she did at the end?

The modern devaluation of top-class long-distance dirt racing began roughly in 1988, when the Breeders’ Cup Distaff was reduced from 10 to 9 furlongs. The decision was accidentally validated with the thriller between Personal Ensign and Winning Colors at Churchill Downs, so everyone got a pat on the back.

In 1990, the New York Racing Association, having already reduced its Jockey Club Gold Cup from two miles to 1 1/2 miles, shrunk the race once more to a mile and one-quarter. There was speculation that the defeat of New York house horse Easy Goer by Sunday Silence in the 1989 Breeders’ Cup Classic had something to do with it. Then again, I may have just imagined Charlie Whittingham saying, “I knew we had ‘em when they ran that red horse in the Gold Cup. You don’t want to be running a mile and a half before a tough mile and a quarter.”

Also in 1990, taking its cue from the shortened Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the NYRA changed the Beldame Stakes back to a mile and one-eighth after a 13-year run at a mile and one-quarter that showcased such winners as Personal Ensign, Lady’s Secret, and Waya.

In 1991, the historic Widener Handicap was run at a mile and a quarter for the last time. In 1998 the Strub Stakes at Santa Anita was shortened from a mile and one-quarter to a mile and one-eighth. The Gulfstream Park Handicap, once a stout companion to the Widener, was run at a mile and one-quarter until 2004. Now it’s a mile.

Between Pet Bully’s victory in the inaugural Woodward Stakes of 1955 and Spectacular Bid’s walkover in 1980, the race was run at eight, nine, 10, and 12 furlongs. Of those 26 runnings, however, 19 were at a mile and one-quarter, and they were won by horses like Sword Dancer, Kelso, Gun Bow, Buckpasser, and Damascus. The only two mile and one-quarter Woodwards since 1980 were won by Alysheba and Easy Goer.

In 2007, the Breeders’ Cup watered down its potential Classic field by adding the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, for no apparent reason other than to help fill out a second Breeders’ Cup Day dictated by ESPN’s programming demands. The heavens reacted with scorn and rained hard, damning the event to a series of barely memorable runnings save to those who won.

Such a steady dilution of competition has had its impact, and blame can be spread around. Place the various professional groups in a circle and they’ll point to each other. It’s the breeders who answer a demand for horses who can win early to justify investment. It’s the trainers who run their horses in fewer and fewer races. It’s the racing secretaries who succumb to pressure from above to fill races and boost sagging handle, and shorter races fill more easily because it’s the breeders who answer a demand for horses who…etc.

The fact remains that there are only five Grade 1 races at a mile and one-quarter on the U.S. calendar open to all comers. (Strangely enough, California has three of them; all three were won this year by Accelerate.) If the game is going to continue to pretend that the mile and one-quarter on the dirt is the ultimate measure of a Thoroughbred’s worth, then the number must somehow change.

In the meantime, the Breeders’ Cup has added another race in its ongoing quest to improve the breed. The race will be on the grass. For 2-year-olds. At 5 furlongs.