More Silliness from the Folks at the Breeders' Cup

[madelyn]

Here's the latest announcement..

BREEDERS’ CUP EXPANDS

GLOBAL NOMINATIONS PROGRAM



CREATES INCENTIVES, STRONGER LINK FROM

BREEDERS’ CUP CHALLENGE SERIES TO BREEDERS’ CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS





LEXINGTON, Ky. (September 13, 2010) -- To broaden international participation in its racing programs and increase the number of the world’s best horses eligible to participate in its year-end championships, Breeders’ Cup Limited will make major changes to its longstanding nominations programs, Breeders’ Cup officials announced today.



Beginning January of 2011, all foals sired by Breeders’ Cup nominated international stallions will be automatically eligible to participate in Breeders’ Cup races. To qualify for the new program, owners of stallions standing outside North America in the Northern Hemisphere will pay an annual nomination fee equal to 50% of their stallion’s published stud fee and owners of stallions standing in the Southern Hemisphere will pay a nomination fee equal to 25% of their stallion’s published stud fee. Breeders’ Cup’s current North American nominations programs will remain unchanged.



In connection with the changes in the nominations program, Breeders’ Cup also will enhance the benefits for winning one of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge qualifying “Win and You’re In” races by paying the entry fees and subsidizing travel costs to the Championships for all Challenge winners who are Breeders’ Cup eligible. Breeders’ Cup also will pay a new $10,000 award to the nominator of any North American foal that wins a Challenge race.



“The Breeders’ Cup World Championships is our flagship and the programs we are unveiling today will make it an even stronger global competition moving forward,” said Breeders’ Cup Chairman Bill Farish. “While some of these initiatives are targeted at the overseas market, we believe that building our global Championships and strengthening the Breeders’ Cup’s international brand will directly support a stronger U.S. commercial Thoroughbred breeding and racing market.”



“Over the past few years, less than 2% of all international Thoroughbreds have been eligible to run in our Championships,” said Breeders’ Cup President and CEO, Greg Avioli. “We believe the new changes to expand international eligibility along with the additional incentives for Challenge winners and North American breeders should ensure we continue to draw the best fields in the world to racing’s premier event.”



“For years Breeders’ Cup has looked for ways to attract more interest and participation from the top stables outside the U.S. and this new program is a big step toward doing just that,” said Clem Murphy, Senior Bloodstock Advisor, Coolmore Stud, and Chairman of the Breeders’ Cup Racing and Nominations Committee that helped develop the new program. “Coolmore plans to take advantage of this new program and we would encourage the leading breeding operations in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America to do the same.”



To jumpstart the international nominations program and increase the numbers of eligible runners in the Championships from North America, Breeders’ Cup will offer a special one-time, fee-based “open enrollment” program in 2011 for previously ineligible horses. This open enrollment program will be available from February 1 through June 30, 2011 to any horse sired by stallions nominated to the Breeders’ Cup in 2011 according to the following fee schedule: yearlings for $3,000, two-year-olds for $6,000 and three-year-olds and up for $25,000.



“This is a one-time incentive that we thought long and hard about,” said Avioli. “Initially, it was targeted to international participants but we considered the overall fairness issues and the benefits this could provide owners in the U.S. and Canada and decided it was in everyone’s interest to offer it on a worldwide basis.”



In 2010, Breeders’ Cup scheduled 66 Challenge races, 50 in the U.S. and Canada, 16 in Europe, Asia and Australia. Breeders’ Cup officials said the 2011 Challenge schedule would be announced later in the year.



International wagering on the Breeders’ Cup World Championships has been a significant growth area, increasing by 110% from $11 million to $23 million over the last five years. Since its Championships expanded to two days in 2007, Breeders’ Cup has grown the number of international starters from 12 to 34.



“We are fortunate that Thoroughbred racing is a global sport with strong interest around the world,” said Avioli. “We have concentrated on opening up new markets for wagering over the last few years and the results have been promising.”




So let me get this straight - US breeders still have to pay $500 per foal plus stallion nomination fees while the rest of the WORLD gets their foals in free for just the stallion nomination fees??????

[FOS]

hi madelyn

Here's the latest announcement..

BREEDERS’ CUP EXPANDS

GLOBAL NOMINATIONS PROGRAM



CREATES INCENTIVES, STRONGER LINK FROM

BREEDERS’ CUP CHALLENGE SERIES TO BREEDERS’ CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS


LEXINGTON, Ky. (September 13, 2010) -- To broaden international participation in its racing programs and increase the number of the world’s best horses eligible to participate in its year-end championships, Breeders’ Cup Limited will make major changes to its longstanding nominations programs, Breeders’ Cup officials announced today.

Beginning January of 2011, all foals sired by Breeders’ Cup nominated international stallions will be automatically eligible to participate in Breeders’ Cup races. To qualify for the new program, owners of stallions standing outside North America in the Northern Hemisphere will pay an annual nomination fee equal to 50% of their stallion’s published stud fee and owners of stallions standing in the Southern Hemisphere will pay a nomination fee equal to 25% of their stallion’s published stud fee. Breeders’ Cup’s current North American nominations programs will remain unchanged.

... ... ... etc etc etc ... ... ...

So let me get this straight - US breeders still have to pay $500 per foal plus stallion nomination fees while the rest of the WORLD gets their foals in free for just the stallion nomination fees??????

Hmmm...logical, don't ya think?

Best to ya.

Respectfully

[Dave C]

If I read it correctly, reduced stallion nomination fees.

[Laurierace]

Yeah we still have to pay $500. They did away with all the regional stakes starting next year too. So we pay for less. I know for sure I won't be nominating my Buddah colt. I haven't decided about my Stephen Got Even colt yet. I am leaning towards no but since there is a chance I may have to sell him I may have to.

[madelyn]

Well I believe they have lost me and my money forever.

[FOS]

hi madelyn

Well I believe they have lost me and my money forever.

BB King sings...

...The Thrill Is Gone.

Sadly ...I hear so many many many many singing the same tune.

Best to ya madelyn.

Respectfully

[majxmom]

Why would they pay entry fees and travel expenses for Win and You're In horses to attend? Like you haven't made enough money to pay for it? Wow, they have really killed this program in the last three years. What a shame.

To me, if they wanted more participation, they ought to DROP the fees from $500 to $200. Then most people would register, I think. Certainly you'd get more participation.

Crazy.

[griff]

anyone that will pay $200 will pay $500..

It's kind of like claiming races.. I always take the reduction in the claiming price in exchange for the reduction in weight for the same reason; i.e., anyone that will claim a horse for $10k will claim it for $12,500.

griff

[Hops]

I'd pay $200 for sure. And I'd pay the $500 IF I could run for BC purses in my neck of the woods.

They need to be helping out & becoming more appealing to the "little guy" breeders. Instead, they've just guaranteed that this breeder will never nominate a horse to their series.

[madelyn]

Hops, you can't. They have cancelled the regional BC races.

So the "skinny" of it is that they want US breeders to pay the full boat we have always paid. But they are offering nearly FREE BC eligibility to foreign horses. So we can pay all the money to support the two day BC Championships and those European, SA, Aussie, and other foreign horses who got in for nearly nothing can come and take our money home.

I have heard rumblings that quite a lot of Lexington stud farms did not nominate stallions this year. I expect that trend to continue.

[Fireslam]

anyone that will pay $200 will pay $500..

It's kind of like claiming races.. I always take the reduction in the claiming price in exchange for the reduction in weight for the same reason; i.e., anyone that will claim a horse for $10k will claim it for $12,500.

griff

Maybe if you only have one foal, but anyone with 2, 3, and more foals, thats significant money. I have 2 foals; if noms were $200, Id consider nominating both of them, for $400. But with it being $1000, theres no shot in hell that Ill nominate them. I know a lot of people who feel the same way. And most people I know arent even considering spending that money this year.

[wangkw]

Isn't it a sports of wherewithal ? Bankers always have huge advantage, by default, in every neck of woods...at the

expense of all the small mortals...He who pays the piper calls the tune.

[wangkw]

Anyone that will pay $200 will pay $500.. Anyone that will claim a horse for $10k will claim it for $12,500.

griff

This is a very interesting proposition....equiv to The Greater Fool Theory people often refer to in the stock market.

Up to a certain point..it wont hold...ie at the point of ultra irrational exuberance, the famous term by Greenspan.

But there lies a key difference , that is : Will you pay for 10,000 in the 1st place ? Please note your statement can
also hold this way:

Anyone who will sell his animal at 10,000 will sell it at 9,000...and this will usher us into an endless loop.

[Dave C]

I disagree wang. Griff is arguing that demand for foal nominations is inelastic. Fireslam is arguing that demand is highly elastic. Both are correct within the specific market they are considering.

[madelyn]

From my perspective, the situation is this: US stallion owners are required to pay 100% of their stallion's published stud fee, so that his foals will be eligible to pay $500 more by October 1 of the year born. There is a "late" fee option of $1500 by December 31 of the year born. In addition to the 14 races at the BC championship, there was quite a number of BC sponsored races run at tracks around the country. It always seemed to me that there was a normal representation of the best European horses in the BC Championships, however the BC folks claim that very few European horses were eligible in the past. I thought that their participation in the EBF made them eligible.. please someone who knows those details, I would be interested in the facts.

Two years ago, the BC announced that they were canceling the regional races, at which point I cancelled my stallion's nomination. They called me a few times to try to collect the balance of the fee - I asked for a refund of my deposit (fat chance ); anyhow, they rescinded the cancellation of the regional stakes. So I got back in; I have nominated foals that I thought I should…

The latest sleight of hand from the folks at the BC seems to be that they want us to believe they are making it “more international” – so we should all obediently continue to pony up the pride of lions’ share of the money, while the rest of the world can get in for 25%-50% of the stallion’s fee and no fee for their foals. We should be GLAD to give up our regional stakes for the privilege of having more foreign horses compete, right?

Please tell the folks at the BC that they can kiss my brass goodbye.