We Put the World in Championships

Tweet So I was reflecting on my World Series of Horse Racing post on my dream race run on dirt which would include all of the classic race winners, the BC Classic and Ladies Classic champs and various other horses who qualified via points/standings to determine the annual champion a la the NCAA tournament or the Super Bowl. The original post which appeared at the Blood-horse (as well as here) generated quite a bit of commentary, but one comment that resonated with me the most was one by Gina from the very fine Gallop France blog who stated "Ah, and once again the Americans want to call something a "World Series" and not invite anybody from - well, the world (you know, that small bit that exists OUTSIDE the United States....)" Now, while I was flattered that she considered that I was representing the good ole' USA, she was properly corrected by Ms. Backstretch that yours truly is certainly not the be-all, end-all of American racing. Whew, by the way. Today, however, this comment is one that has me chuckling that the Breeders' Cup folks represent that they are holding the "World Championships" in three weeks. I guess if the world is invited, but they don't show up (or qualify?) one can justify calling it the World Championships.

With a little bit of unscientific research, last year's races included 156 BC starters, wherein only 33 were bred or ran predominantly outside of North America prior to the Cup. That's 21% of the total starters. No horses from Australia or Japan and two from South America. Can they (we) really call it the World Championships? Maybe it's just us Ugly Americans thinking we rule the world and we can call it whatever we want, and maybe Gina has a point to make here, also. Then again, maybe it really doesn't matter and I should move on to a different topic and stop breaking the BC's nuts, but with three weeks to go until the big weekend and no idea who's racing where, there's gotta be something to be snarky about.

Which brings me to the Eclipse Award for the American Horse of the Year. Actually, I won't go there, because I really could not care less, since it's not something that will be decided on the track, and I don't have a vote, so my opinion really doesn't matter anyway. Stay tuned elsewhere for further blather for the next three months on the HoTY topic. I can't wait.