Colonial Downs gets “slammed” by scheduling
conflict
The purse was $500,000-guaranteed, with as much as $3.4 million
in bonus money available to a horse who swept the remaining three
legs of the four-race series known as the Grand Slam of Grass.
But Colonial Downs still had trouble bringing in horses for the
inaugural running of its Colonial Turf Cup Stakes on June 25.
Why?
Because Delaware Park had carded a race with almost identical
conditions—same purse, also for 3-year-olds going long
on the grass—on the same day.
Eleven horses broke from the gate in Delaware’s Kent Breeders’ Cup
Stakes-G3. Five of them, including the first two finishers, had
been cross-entered in the two races, and were listed as scratched
at Colonial.
The Colonial Turf Cup had a field of six. With horses, especially
stakes-caliber runners, in short supply throughout the region,
common sense should dictate that tracks
make every effort to coordinate their stakes schedules. But it
doesn’t always happen that way.
The MATCH (Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship)
series was a major step toward cooperation, but lasted only three
years (1999 to 2001) before it was derailed by various divisive
elements.
This fall, the Maryland Million and West Virginia Breeders Classics
will be run on the same date, October 8. It’s the fourth
time in five years that the events have run head-to-head.
Competition for horses, and competition for fans, takes something
away from everyone involved. Some of the problems facing racing
can’t be helped. This one can.
