Last week, Heavy Artillery secret agent code-named BOSS (one of my two sources deep within the Reds organization) alerted me to a critical newsflash within an hour of it being sent across Our Manifest Destiny continent along all telegraph wires and to all ships at sea; At the conclusion of this year's spring meet, on-going now, Keeneland will replace their maintrack Polytrack (synthetic) racing surface with good old fashioned dirt, just as it was prior to 2006 and as God intended.
The experiment in synthetic racing surfaces began in North America at Turfway Park in 2005 as an effort to reduce catastrophic injuries among thoroughbreds. Studies suggest this goal was met but, according to various reports, at the cost of an increase in soft-tissue injuries which are attributable to a rise in the rate of career-ending injuries and - in some cases - breakdowns at later points (on non-synthetic surfaces) elsewhere. Following the lead of Turfway Park and Keeneland, a handful of other racetracks adopted synthetic surfaces, Santa Anita notably among them, but most quickly gave up on the experiment and have since reverted to dirt. Yet, as is so often the case, there is more to the story from Keeneland's perspective.
Since the 2006 switch to Polytrack, Keeneland's signature event - the Blue Grass Stakes - has slipped into irrelevancy. For almost 100 years the Blue Grass Stakes served as the final and, as viewed by many, most important prep race for the Kentucky Derby. However, with Churchill Downs - home to the Kentucky Derby - still operating a dirt main track, virtually all trainers and owners are opting to have their horses prep at race tracks other than Keeneland. When a track isn't attracting the best horses, it isn't attracting the biggest crowds through the turnstiles that it might otherwise. When a racetrack isn't attracting the biggest crowds that it could, the track's "handle" (or total cash receipts from gambling) decreases. It's important at this stage to remember two things; 1) Racetracks care not which horses win or lose, racetracks collect their cut off the top from monies wagered and, 2) As it applies specifically to Keeneland, The Keeneland Association is first and foremost a not-for-profit charitable organization that benefits both equine and human causes. If receipts/revenues are down, charitable giving is down.
Frankly, there are three health/safety reasons why Keeneland is willing to forgo Polytrack. First, the decrease in rate of catastrophic injuries was real but statistically marginal. Second, Keeneland claims to have formulated a new blend of dirt/sand/clay which will be safer than traditional surfaces (we'll see). Third, advances in equine medical science (research that is funded, in part, by Keeneland) are revolutionizing the care and rehabilitation of injured thoroughbreds.
Yet the most significant reason for why the Keeneland Association made the decision to revert to dirt may have to do with unconfirmed, but persistent, rumors that has Keeneland pursuing the opportunity to someday host the World Thoroughbred Championships aka the Breeders' Cup. Founded upon the idea that the Championships would travel to a different North American racetrack each year, the event has devolved essentially into a two track spectacle; Churchill Downs and Santa Anita. Among the principle justifications for this development is that those two tracks belong to a small minority which are able to accommodate a Breeders' Cup-sized crowd of 80,000 or more patrons. On the occasion of its biggest day - Blue Grass Stakes day - Keeneland welcomes approximately 40,000 patrons. And believe me when I say those 40k are jammed into every occupiable corner of the facility.
The idea of Keeneland hosting a Breeders' Cup stirs deep conflicts within my soul. On the surface it seems more than logical that the greatest venue for thoroughbred horse racing found anywhere in this galaxy should host the sport's preeminent international showcase; shouldn't it have been decreed from inception? I've attended a Breeders' Cup before, back in 2006 at Churchill Downs (and brother, did I ever break the bank!), and I would certainly make every reasonable effort to attend a BC Saturday at Keeneland - assuming I had a reserved seat. And yet some of the very same characteristics that make Keeneland such an ideal host for the Breeders' Cup would necessarily have to be transformed into unrecognizability in order to be a host site. The timeless, tidy grandstand and the spacious, park-like vistas would in turn be flanked and obstructed with and by temporary seating accommdations - doubling (or more) the seating capacity - that would mar the setting. Late arrivals to the Blue Grass Stakes hike half a mile traversing from designated overflow parking to grandstand turnstile (but what a sublime hike it is, through the forest that Keeneland calls its "parking lot"). Keeneland would have to arrange for parking offsite, perhaps just down Versailles Road at neighboring Calumet Farm, and transit patrons. Speaking of Versailles Road, this particular roadway on the west side of Lexington is already too modest to handle Blue Grass Stakes traffic; I cannot imagine the vehicular nightmare that would be loosed upon Versailles Road on a Breeders' Cup day. The Lexington International Airport directly across the street isn't large enough to facilitate all the inbound (and outbound, afterward) flights hailing from the four corners of the globe ferrying multi-million dollar horses, trainers, owners, sheikhs, royalty and The B Team Syndicate.
Colour me British-version spelling of sceptical but I don't see how Keeneland can overcome the considerable obstacle of resolving the seating capacity deficit to the satisfaction of the Breeders' Cup steering committee. I'll believe it only when I see it.
Speaking of the Blue Grass Stakes, this Saturday's renewal (broadcast on something called Fox Sports 1; check your local listings) also marks the 20th anniversary of Holy Bull's remarkable victory in the 1994 running which propelled him into that year's Kentucky Derby as the post time betting favorite. Written about here more often than most of you'd probably prefer, I was there at Keeneland that afternoon with The B Team and cashed a big winning ticket on Holy Bull. Holy Bull is the greatest thoroughbred racehorse I've ever seen race in person and he remains among my all-time favorites in the pantheon of The Sport of Kings. Steve Haskin, writing for The Blood-Horse, recently posted a long piece on Holy Bull titled "Holy Bull's Legend Born 20 Years Ago." As Haskin writes, It's another one of those horse racing stories you can't make up and never get tired of hearing. Haskin highlights Holy Bull's courageous victory in the 1994 Travers Stakes (at Saratoga Race Course) as illustrative of the horse's competitive ability. In that Midsummer Derby, Holy Bull held off, by the narrowest of margins, the late charge of a horse named Concern who himself would go on just months later to win that year's Breeders' Cup Classic. Tom Durkin's call of the '94 Travers Stakes is itself a classic.
I, for one, look forward to the return of dirt to Keeneland, the restoration of esteem and relevancy for the Blue Grass Stakes and to the reestablishment of Keeneland as the crown jewel of American horse racing.
Roll the credits!
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