“The Instant Racing Kentucky Derby”

Turning for home in the Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby time is looming on the horizon.. It’s one month from today. But does anyone except the choir actually care? I know the answer. Only in the eyes of the blind (the weak and feckless industry leaders of the sport) is the Kentucky Derby, the event it once was. With apologies to American Pharoah, the gig ain’t what it used to be.

For too many years now, The Derby has been a mishmash 20-horse field of what largely amounts to a “non winners of two” allowance race with a $2M dollar purse. Mostly a scrum of driftwood with a shotgun scattering of what passes today for stakes winners who also beat watered down fields on the road to the Derby. If the “industry” could figure out a way to run the Derby as a stand-alone event with no prep races, these faux-racetrack owners and “industry wizards” would do so in a heartbeat. Taken one step further, if these same “industry leaders” and racetrack managements could think of a way to get rid of the horses, they’d do that as well. DO NOT kid yourself.

And oh by the way, the $2M purse, it’s a national embarrassment. The purse for the Kentucky Derby should be at least $10M. Actually, the purse ought to be $20M and the field should be limited to one 14-horse gate. This, along with a LEGITIMATE point system to qualify for entry (that’s a post for another day) immediately returns the field and the race to respectability.

But I’ve got an idea and it’s brilliant! Wait for it… Let’s replace the Kentucky Derby with “The Instant Racing Kentucky Derby” and be done with it. We have to keep up with the state-of-the-art evolution of the sport, right? These same “industry leaders” have shown us the way of the future (and it’s bleak). But at least we could rerun some of the greatest Derby’s of all time like Count Fleet, Citation, Swaps, Northern Dancer, Majestic Prince, Secretariat, Affirmed, Sunday Silence and Unbridled… Trust me, nobody in the grandstand would even recognize these horses in the post parade on the instant racing terminals.

No, no, just think of it, management could kill off the $2M purse and save money on track maintenance. As an industry bonus no one in the crowd gets pissed off by poor racetrack management policies and practices, bad food, over priced drinks and not enough restrooms because they could limit attendance to a totally acceptable, modern day packed house of 10,000 people.

At least the viewers of the “Instant Derby” would get to see something truly spectacular unlike what they’ll see on this first Saturday in May. Now, I know what you’re thinking. And NO. I am NOT cynical.. – I’m heartbroken.