Big events important to all tracks

While enjoying an Iron City beer with a fellow Clevelander at Mountaineer Casino Resort and Racetrack this past March, my compatriot and I discussed the merits of Thistledown removing the Ohio Derby from its stakes schedule this year to funnel more money into overnight purses.

My friend agreed with the move, saying that Thistledown should do more to support its local horsemen--the people who commit themselves to the track's program long term--versus supporting the carpet bagger national horsemen who swoop in once a year for the big pot.

I disagreed, saying that every track should get gussied up at least once a year to put its best foot forward. Even schools in the poorest communities have homecoming.

In the end, the Ohio Racing Commission also thought that Thistledown should hold its signature event and mandated that the suburban Cleveland facility stage the Ohio Derby. Horsemen responded, as the connections of 13 horses dropped their names in the entry box on Emory Road this past Tuesday.

Although this year's Diamond Jubilee edition of Ohio's richest Thoroughbred race will be conducted with fewer funds in years past (the purse is down, and I imagine the marketing and capital improvements budgets are too), it will still give Thistledown a chance to dust off the old sport coat, borrow dad's clip on tie, and look its best for Northeast Ohio's most ardent supporters of horse racing.

Sure, the horsemen supporting the track this year and helping it achieve an increase in field size deserve some loyalty from management, but don't the fans in the area who have come out to watch and wager on racing under all sorts of conditions deserve a chance to see a better product every now and then too?

In addition to the Ohio Derby, the track will stage several Best of Ohio stakes races for Thoroughbreds bred in the Buckeye State. You can also watch and wager on major stakes and Breeders' Cup prep races from Belmont, Hawthorne, and Santa Antia.

Thistledown will never have the aura of a Del Mar, Keeneland, or Saratoga where every racing day is special--in part because none of those facilities conduct more than seven weeks of racing a year.

Day-in and day-out racing at Thistledown is a grind, and six weeks of stakes races and future Derby prospects at Saratoga is more interesting than seven months of bottom level claimers at Thistledown, but it's still the Sport of Kings at either facility.

The royalty, of course, aren't the owners or trainers, or fans. The kings and queens are the horses who know nothing but how to run as fast as they can when asked to do so, and that's not as tough a thing to appreciate when a track gets gussied up for the big dance.