Courtesy of Teresa Genaro
The history of racing in this country reveals a curiously
ambivalent attitude towards its female equine athletes. The Old Gray (trotting) Mare may have been
racing's first equine star, and from racing's beginnings in this country, colts
and fillies regularly raced against each other.
Ruthless won the fourth running of the Travers in 1867, while a filly,
Sarah B., won the first running of the Champagne.
Of course, the girls have their own races, too, though we
sometimes have to wonder at their names:
the Matron, oddly named for a race for two-year-olds, and particularly
so given that for its first ten years (1892 - 1902), it was open to colts, too.
And soon at Keeneland, we'll have the Spinster, a most unfortunate and
unattractive name for a race for two-year-olds fillies, one that does not augur
well for their future careers as broodmares.
In September of 1914, the two-year-old Comely raced in the Fall Highweight at Belmont; she raced against older horses, she
raced against colts, she gave them sixteen pounds...and she won, according to a
contemporary account, in a hand ride by a length and a half.
Later in the century, Shuvee
dominated her own sex at two and at three; at four, she became the first-and
only-mare to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and she came back the next year to
do it again.
1986 brought us the magnificent
Personal Ensign, whose perfect race record is no less impressive than Cigar's win streak, and she,
too, took on the boys and won, in the 1988 Whitney.
Intersex racing is a rarity in
this country though it thrives overseas, as this weekend's Arc highlights, with
the undefeated Zarkava taking on boys and older horses. It's bad enough that the trend in this
country keeps females and males from competing in the same race, but in this
year's Breeder's Cup, they're not even competing on the same day.
Three weeks from today, I'll be
doing pretty much what I'm doing now:
working. And while I am, some of
this year's most exciting races, with many of this year's most exciting horses,
will be taking place. Working at a
school does not particularly lend itself to catching a few races streaming
live, so like the majority of race fans in this country, I'll miss the Filly
and Mare Sprint, the Filly and Mare Turf, and the Filly and Mare Classic
(sorry, I just can't bring myself to call it the Ladies' Classic). I'll miss Indian Blessing, Ginger Punch, Hystericalady,
Backseat Rhythm, Wait A While.
Over the last century and a half,
female horses have established over and over again that they are as exciting
and as dominant as the males; they've demonstrated their mettle and their
talent. I guess, though, they haven't
proved that they're good enough to race on the biggest racing day of the
year.
Teresa Genaro writes regularly about racing at Brooklyn Backstretch.
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Counter-point courtesy of Patrick Patton
I like Ladies'
Day. I've been asking for Ladies'
Day for quite some time, and I'm not the only one, but now that it's here seems
like many are against it. And, no one is
saying they like it anymore. It seems
like we've driven off by terms like "sexist" and who can blame us. Well, I'm not going down without a
fight.
It's not sexist. This argument is just flat out wrong. When
you hear, ‘putting the filly's on Friday
and the colts on Saturday is [sexist, demeaning, and/or wrong].' Well
that's a false statement. Races restricted to F&M are on Friday,
but Saturday's races aren't restricted to the colts. It's open company
with some restrictions
based on age. The fillies and mares have
all the right in the world to run on Saturday if they so wish. And,
please Zenyatta, think about it. There are purists out there who see
this
split around "company" to be very fair. (And, I'm hoping you leave some
comments
below!)
"The Ladies'
Classic". I admit this name could
go, and have pointed that out on my blog, but is it really just the name you're
mad at? Please don't let that ruin a
great day of racing. My guess is they
rename it again next year. F&M
Classic sounds nicer, and is clearly what people want.
It's not bad business. The BC set out to create 2 days of
championship racing, not one kinda-sorta-like a championship day and one "real"
one. They fix this by doing what every
other track does in the nation, building to a main event. All the tracks I've been to, when I'm lucky
enough to be there on a Gr I or Gr II, has other graded stakes or stakes races
supporting that finale. Those under-card
races generate more handle paired up with the big one than if they stood
alone.
How well would a Juv
Turf, F Juv Turf, Turf Sprint, Marathon, Mile
card do? Pretty poorly! We can debate whether or not the BC watered
things down too much later, but for now it is what it is. What the Breeders'Cup is saying is that the
F&M Classic is strong enough to carry a card. They didn't think any other race could do
it. That's respect.
Friday!!! They can't race on Sunday. While Friday isn't as good as Saturday, it
isn't as bad as you might think. In my
office we watch TV, usually CNBC, but on special occasions we have watched a
Yankees & Mets day game, the Masters, the US Open (golf & tennis), and
we'll watch the Breeders' Cup. You'll
say, well those people watching in an office won't bet. And, you're right, but those people also
might get excited enough to bet on Saturday who weren't thinking about it. Using a whole day to drum business up for
Saturday seems like a great idea. We'll
see how it goes.
Give it a shot. I don't know what is going to happen on Friday. I'm not exactly sure what Ladies' Day means
outside what I've heard about Ascot. The bar is set very low for expectations on
this one, so lets hope the BC doesn't just barely clear it, but goes all out to
shine a light on the women of this sport.
If they don't do that, then I'll be in the "don't like it" camp, but I'm
willing to give it a shot.
