| # | Name | Comments | US State | Country |
|---|
| 101 | Anonymous | The BC use to stand for Breeder's Cup...but for me, now, it stands for The BOYS CLUB.
Turning the filly/mare championship races into 'women's health' awareness events, and changing the the name of the Distaff - it's enough to churn anyone's stomach....perhaps Pepto-Bismo can sponsor the Distaff this year...after all, it's PINK, ---and what little lady doesn't like pink?
I'm sure Pepto-Bismo will get a lot of sales too, from real race fans who are on the verge of puking over the two day event alone, much less the fillys and mares getting bumped out of the Big Race Day.
I'm very disgusted with the men on the BC board who have done this. | ID | US |
| 102 | Anonymous | | | CA |
| 103 | Anonymous | Put it back to the way it was :( | MD | US |
| 104 | Anonymous | Breeders Cup Championship is no longer a world class event. Now running two days has furuther diluted the quality of the product. SANTA ANITA as the choice for the next two years is insane. BC should look to the Dubai World cup for a classic day of racing. | MD | US |
| 105 | Joy Reeves | As a female professional in a highly male dominated profession I am accustomed to feeling marginalized. I have yet, however, to be treated in such an appaling fashion as the grand dames of racing have been treated by the Breeders' Cup. Moving all the filly and mare races to Friday is like restricting my work hours to when the men aren't in the building!
What was wrong with the old name? These are not LADIES, they are horses. Fillies and Mares to be more precise.
I understand the marketing ploy being utilized by the Breeders' Cup, but that is all it is. A ploy. It is not to designed in the best intrests of the sport, the breeders, the owners, the trainers, or most importantly (because it's where I fit in) - the FANS. | CO | US |
| 106 | Jolene Danner | Moving the DISTAFF to Friday is a travesty and changing the name is insulting. Many great mares have come out of that race and it's often the best race on the card in the line up and the exciting finish. The breeder's Cup is ruining a day that i used to look forward to. | MN | US |
| 107 | Anonymous | I am totally against making the Friday of the BC event a card of races for only fillies. It is absurd to take the spolight away from the female Stars of the sport and give the vacated spots to their male counterparts. I for one will be showing my dipleasure of the decision by boycotting the entire event. I will not attend and will not wager on the event. | NJ | US |
| 108 | Chris Sheaffer | | PA | US |
| 109 | Bryan helmer | They have watered down and ruined it. It should stay the biggest DAY of racing not weekend. | MN | US |
| 110 | Anonymous | | PA | US |
| 111 | Anonymous | The Distaff belongs on Saturday. | | CA |
| 112 | Alison Murphy | While working at the NTRA (from July 1999 - June 2002), I worked with Greg Avioli as his paralegal and then with Keith Chamblin in Marketing. While in Marketing, one of my jobs was to get celebrities to the races. In the Oct 2001 BC in NY, I arranged for nearly the entire cast and executive producers to attend the BC. While it was a significant "Hollywood" event, especially in light of 9/11, no one at the NTRA or BC could capitalize on that celebrity coup. We had the biggest NY stars at the biggest NY sporting event at the moment. Yet, it was never covered in the press. Getting the celebs there was my job. Getting in the papers and on TV was their job (make no mistake - everyone from both NTRA & BC staffs worked on Breeders' Cup events at that time). Yet, the same people, Keith Chamblin, "consultant" Chip Tuttle (who is also the COO of Sufflok - go figure how that one works!), Peter Rotondo, now VP of TV, Greg Avioli, etc. are telling us that LA and it's media market will be the key to building a viewership. Bullshit. As the song goes, if you can make it in NY, you can make it ANYWHERE. In other words, if you can't make it in NY, you're screwed. And, well, in my opinion, we didn't make a dent in the media after what has been the biggest media effort to date. With the same team in place (all now wearing BC jerseys rather than NTRA ones), why should we expect anything different? We're allowing the Breeders' Cup board of directors to be snowed by these cast of poor performers. Oh, but then again, there's the sacrificial new lamb, Peter Land. An outsider who seems to legitimately want to succeed. If he only knew the history of his playmates! He'll get pretty quick when all of this lands in his face (Greg is SUPER at manipulating his boss(es) to save his own ass - he definitely would be a finalist in The Apprentice, well until he actually had to produce something, then he'd be fired. Too bad Trump's not on the BC BoD).
You can see a bit of his hubris in his own words. Greg was recently quoted in the Blood-Horse as knowing the late John Gaines "better than most people in the industry". Of course, when you really don't know that many people in the industry you're employed by, I guess you can say that with confidence (also helps when the guy is dead and can't refute it). If you really think John Gaines thought the Distaff was a poorly named race, why didn't he rename if from the beginning?
How does "Ladies' Classic" paint a picture better than Distaff? Why not just say what it is....1.25 mile Horse Race for Female Thoroughbreds? Why? Because it SOUNDS STUPID! Why didn't Greg do the same thing when he worked for the PGA Tour (when he was employed with Tim Smith)? Why not change the names of the scoring? Does everyone know what a Double Bogey is? How about a birdie? Am I even spelling those right? I like golf and appreciate its terms. Not knowing what the terms are doesn't prevent me from appreciating the effort of the golfers and the progression of the game.
Considering Greg's background in golf, It is not surprising to me that under his leadership, the BC has relegated female racehorses to Friday. Greg's work experience prior to landing at the NTRA. Golf is probably one of the most segregated sports and leisure activities in the US with women's tee times to men-only golf clubs. Since Greg is not an active participant in the horse racing business (not an owner, breeder, rider, trainer or handicapper) it is not surprising that he just doesn' t get the game. He doesn't care. No matter what happens in October 2008 or 2009, Greg will still receive his fat paycheck. He'll not be out of pocket for anything!
Greg, like many in our industry, don't have to be accountable for their failures. If this California experiment with our money and livelihoods ends without an increase in viewership, we're going to be so far down the slippery slope that only a miracle could help us. The BC Board of Directors must be held accountable for the actions of the management they allegedly direct. We need to take back the night, so to speak. It's time to let the Breeders' Cup board of directors know that we're not going to accept their blind faith in these failed businessmen. | KY | US |
| 113 | Anonymous | I agree with who
said BC now more appropriately stands for 'Boy's Club'. Friday is a working day for probably 95% of fans, and that really irks me to have a major day of racing scheduled then. Sunday would be a vastly more accessable day for fans, and infinitely more respected than Friday. "The Distaff" implies equal respect, not subservient wench, to pushed aside as of less importance than the Classic. "Ladies day" implies softer, frilly but not substantial, pampered, to be indulged , and not to be taken seriously. So they thought making it a 'special day' would appease us? Maybe they should change the Classic and the Saturday events to "Chauvinist Classic Day!!"
At least, keep these two traditional championships races on the same day. Spread the newer races onto Sunday, equally divided, and give them all a chance to be appreciated! | KY | US |
| 114 | Alison | Oops! Left out the small detail that it was the cast & producers of THE SOPRANOS who attended the Breeders' Cup in 2001! | | |
| 115 | Erin Thompson | LADIES CLASSIC????? What are you thinking? | IN | US |
| 116 | Kyle | | | |
| 117 | Maureen Thompson | Ridiculous! In what century are these people living? | IN | US |
| 118 | what next | John Gaines is rolling in his grave. | IN | US |
| 119 | Megan von Ruhtenberg | | | |
| 120 | Anonymous | | NE | |
| 121 | M. Guzman | | FL | US |
| 122 | Lisa Frankfort | | CA | US |
| 123 | Lisa A Maguran | | FL | US |
| 124 | Leigh Ann Anderson | Fillies and mares can be "Saturday afternoon" horses too. Don't trivialize their contribution to the greatest DAY in racing | GA | US |
| 125 | Larry Markowitz | They events should be mixed between the days. Otherwise, like the Oaks and BES, they will not draw like the Derby and Preakness (and they deserve to be on equal footing). | PA | US |
| 126 | Kevin Martin | | DE | US |
| 127 | Lindsay Girardeau | | FL | US |
| 128 | Roy Simmen | Owner/breeder | | |
| 129 | Rochelle | It's bad enough that the biggest day of racing can't be held over a weekEND, when the vast majority of those who want to watch, can. But to segregate the races, and remand the mighty filles and mares to the day when LESS people can watch, does send the message that these are the "lesser" races. No amount of WANTING to have the first day as big as the second will take place on a sandard work day. These females are 50% of the whole of racing. In regard to the excuse that the word "Distaff" is too confusing to new fans, I ask the obvious question: What new fans? Marketing has so killed this sport (ironic, isn't it?) by the most ill-conceived bad ideas, that all that's left to preach to are the converted. And we're not liking the sermon. I know when I first got into horse racing (back in the 70s), I had to learn everything from distaff to furlong to silks. I learned. And isn't it an easy question to clear up? "What does Distaff mean?" "It means they are all girls in the race". Toughie, huh?
In recent years (since say, the mid-90s, at least) the Distaff has often been more competitive, had more star names and been more anticipated than most Classics have been, seeing as how the winners of the Classic are often retired as the go under the wire. For that matter, half the field usually is. For that alone, it often rings somewhat hollow to race fans when it's all said and done.
They are not "ladies", they are fillies and mares. Want to have a Ladies Day? Great!! Make it for HUMAN patrons. Offer them free admissions, or some other gimmick to draw them in to the event, without taking away from the horses and/or races. But don't cheapen our sport, or these horses by sending them off to the current Siberia of the BC, the day when far less people will be watching. For that matter, why Friday at all? Shouldn't the event be Sat/Sun?? I like the additions of the new races, although I hope it stops with these 14. It's plenty and all bases are now effectively covered. But they should be mixed over the two days evenly, the Distaff at the VERY least needs to be the Filly & Mare Classic (and hey, what's wrong with...the Distaff???), and needs to be on Saturday, until the first day of the BC is not on a weekday.
This sport is steeped in tradition for hundreds of years. Even the BC, a relatively new tradition, still has roots, and glory. Some things should not be messed with to the point they're unrecognizable, or worse, uncared about by the fans. This is one of them. The more marketing that is done, it seems the worse things get. You'd think that would stop going unnoticed by the powers that be. It is time to discuss the elephant in the room, and those in charge need to listen. | CA | US |
| 130 | Anonymous | Pleas - Ladies day? Put the DISTAFF back on the day when I can actually watch those great horses run - on Saturday. | TX | US |
| 131 | Mary Yamada | | | CA |
| 132 | Pat Diers | I don't like theses changes either. Go back to the
way things were. | IL | US |
| 133 | Kristen Stokes | | IN | US |
| 134 | Tom Akins | | MD | US |
| 135 | Paul Bradley | My immediate reaction, even after reflection, remains: this is a terrible idea. It deprecates the female horses and will be seen a sexist by many female humans. Please reconsider, not just for the future, but for 2008. | NY | US |
| 136 | Anonymous | This is disgusting news. The name and date changes belie an underlying attitude of 'separate and unequal'. The races being changed are top races that deserve to be mixed in with the rest of the program. | TX | US |
| 137 | Noreen Sullivan | | CA | US |
| 138 | Anonymous | The Breeders Cups races should stay the same! The Distaff should always be run on Saturday! Often it is the Distaff people want to see more than the Classic. | NY | AF |
| 139 | Anonymous | What are you thinking at BC? You'd really want to segregate the racing? | CO | US |
| 140 | Bernard Debo | | CA | US |
| 141 | Anonymous | | | CA |
| 142 | Ernie Munick | | NY | US |
| 143 | Elizabeth Pepper | | MD | US |
| 144 | Anonymous | The Breeders' Cup once upon a time was an advocation of the horse. Now, the horse is the advertisement for the Breeders' Cup.
Change it back, and while you're at it move the races to Saturday and Sunday, so the majority of your fans, who work on Friday, can actually partake. | KY | US |
| 145 | Heather Loges | | IA | US |
| 146 | Anonymous | | NY | US |
| 147 | Anonymous | Next thing you know there will be two Indy 500's . One for the ladies and one for the men ! Leave it alone please . | IL | US |
| 148 | Neil Danoff | | NY | US |
| 149 | Melinda Zuercher | | | |
| 150 | Kate Merritt | go on, just keep butchering the sport. OR, you could use your heads, and get a perspective from the fans occasionally. | KY | US |