ANALYSIS
THIS year’s Belmont Stakes doesn’t have the Kentucky Derby winner, Fusaichi Pegasus. It doesn’t have the Preakness winner, Red Bullet.
But yesterday morning the Belmont had one thing the Derby and Preakness didn’t: a post-position draw that wasn’t an embarrassment to thoroughbred racing.
Looking to gain more TV exposure, four years ago Churchill Downs moved the Derby post draw from Thursday morning to Wednesday evening and broadcast it on ESPN. So far, so good.
But as the racing industry proves over and over again, there is no such thing as a good idea that can’t be ruined if you try.
So three years ago, in an ill-conceived attempt to add NBA draft-style drama to the show, Churchill revamped the traditional process. Instead of a straight draw, where numbered pills are pulled to determine post positions, the horses were assigned the order in which their trainers get to choose their posts.
Pimlico followed suit. The sorry result: three straight years of one-hour shows on national TV preceding the Derby and Preakness that rank among the most boring, insipid and badly executed broadcasts in the history of sports.
The basic problem with the new Derby and Preakness draw is that it’s so predictable. The low numbers get the best posts; the highest, the worst. Duh! There’s little strategy involved, and the 60-second time limit the trainers are given to announce their selection – after having a half-hour to think it over – is a joke.
Worst of all is the inept production. An hour that could be used to introduce the horses and personalities that surround them instead focuses on the lame process itself, interrupted by brief interviews so silly they make you cringe.
The most important information to come out of the draw – the morning-line odds – is treated as an afterthought at the end of the show.
There have been some riveting moments, all unintentional.
The first year, ESPN’s Chris Lincoln called a wrong number and the Derby order had to be re-drawn, sticking it to trainer D. Wayne Lukas, whose horse went from a good post to a bad one. To this day Lincoln shoulders the blame, even though Churchill officials were at fault.
Last year, trainers Bob Baffert and Carl Nafzger were selected to choose last and next-to-last for the Preakness. They flipped a coin, as if to say “who gives a damn?”
At this year’s Preakness draw, ESPN’s Jeanine Edwards remarked to trainer Neil Drysdale that Fusaichi Pegasus threw a scare into the media when he arrived at Pimlico. Drysdale looked at her in stunned disbelief and said, “The media were scared? I don’t understand. Please explain that to me.”
Yesterday, we were spared such moments because NYRA, refusing to fix what isn’t broke, continues to hold a straight draw for the Belmont. God bless them.
