The 2009 Breeders’ Cup was as good as it gets for European interests. With the concluding Classic to come, the score in this annual confrontation with America’s finest stood at 7-6 in favour of the home nation. Victory for Rip Van Winkle or Twice Over would have seen a near-unthinkable sharing of the spoils.
It was not to be. Nor will it be next year at Churchill Downs, when the Breeders’ Cup returns to dirt after two successive years here on the Pro-Ride surface that plays to Europe’s strengths. Furthermore, the reduction in bloodstock values during the recession, far more pronounced in the United States than in Europe, has led to a seven-figure shortfall in revenues at Breeders’ Cup Ltd. Some of the new races may well be axed after a two-year expansion of a racing programme that now embraces a second day.
In that time six new races have been added. The four on turf are the prime focus for cutbacks, since many Americans believe that Europe’s interests have been catered for at their own expense. That, coupled with a return to dirt in the annual rotation of venues, is certain to dilute European interest next year.
With Belmont favoured to host the event in 2011, it will be at least three years before the Breeders’ Cup returns to California. However, the authorities are sure to examine the benefits of staging the Breeders’ Cup at one venue in successive years. At 96,496, the two-day crowd here rose by 14 per cent on 2008.
Zenyatta’s victory in the Classic brought the event to a thrilling climax. Following Goldikova and Conduit, she was the third “repeat” winner — even if she won the Ladies’ Classic last year. For the second year running the absence of equine casualties helped to boost an event that was fast losing its lustre.
Advertisement
Nevertheless, some pressing issues remain if the Breeders’ Cup is to reach its destination as the World Thoroughbred Championships.
The dirt-synthetic debate has polarised America, as it will do when Horse of the Year voters try and choose between Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra, the exceptional three-year-old dirt filly who bypassed the Breeders’ Cup.
There was some resonance in that decision. At the past two Breeders’ Cups, none of the 16 races run on Pro-Ride yielded one winner that had made its previous start on dirt. This impasse between dirt and synthetic surfaces is likely to run and run. Slightly more than half of America’s biggest racecourses retain a dirt surface.
Of Europe’s six winners, British trainers saddled four to one each from Ireland and France. It bought welcome respite to a season when Britain’s trainers found it hard to win at the highest level in Europe.