The de facto horse racing world championships, the Breeders Cup, were held on November 6th and 7th. The U.S. Presidential Election was held on November 3rd. Leading up to both of these events, the atmosphere was filled with anxiety, tension, and anticipation. Who would win, and what would happen in the aftermath? Ironically – or perhaps not so ironically – the answer to that last question is still yet to be determined.
The horse racing world crowns its champions in January, at the annual Eclipse Award Ceremonies. The awards were established in 1971 and named after the great 18th century racehorse Eclipse, who was undefeated in 18 starts and whose likeness is used for the bronze statue given yearly to winners in each category, including the prestigious Horse of the Year. These awards represent outstanding achievements in categories based on horses’ age, gender, and racing success in the past year. In that same month, the newly elected politicians, throughout the country, will take their place in the offices for which they were elected to serve. As in many of these contests, horse or human, some results are foregone conclusions, while in others, there lies some doubt.
In horse racing, the voting for these Eclipse Awards is done by three racing entities: the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association, all groups who are expert in the arena of horse racing. There are 3 nominated horses in each category, which receive votes based on a weighted 1-2-3-point system cast by these three entities. The horse with highest number of total points is declared the winner. Certainly, the results of the Breeders Cup races are strongly considered by those who vote, but there are no specific criteria calling for it.
In political elections, the group that selects the winners of each contested race, whether it be for a national, state, or local office, is comprised of the registered voters cast a ballot – except, of course, in the case of the President of the United States. That office is different, determined by the Electoral College, an age-old system written into the U.S. Constitution that assigns a number of electoral voters to each state based on the combined number of Senators and Representatives the states, along with the District of Columbia, collectively possess – a total of 538. Thus to win the Presidency, a candidate needs to amass 270 votes, or one more than half of the total in the Electoral College, regardless of the total popular votes one receives.
In the days leading up to both these events, there was trepidation throughout the nation, and concern over “unusual” things that might occur to tarnish the outcomes. In horse racing, there is always the fear of a horse falling down and causing an accident, which would put racing in a bad light on its biggest day, with its largest television audience looking on. There is also the reminder of the controversy that surrounded the 2019 running of the Kentucky Derby, in which the winner, Maximum Security, was disqualified for an interference infraction and taken down, a situation that Breeders’ Cup officials naturally hope to avoid.
On the political scene, talk of violence or disruption at the polls grew as election day approached and the rhetoric grew more heated. Horse racing, on the other hand, is always concerned about weather being a factor on its biggest day. Since spectators would not be permitted at Keeneland for the races, the amount of money bet would be far less than in a normal year, and it would be even less if bettors saw any unusual conditions of the track or turf surfaces that might show up due to weather. Also, because these races would be so consequential in determining the Eclipse Awards, horsemen did not want poor weather to lessen their horse’s chances of running their best race on the biggest day.
On the political front, most, but not all, politicians wanted a safe and fair election, one free from any disruptions that might influence the turnout. Most wanted to see a secure vote tally in accordance with each individual State’s election laws, policies and procedures in place meant to make sure the count was secure.
Fortunately, the weather was near perfect for the 14 races conducted over the two days of Breeders’ Cup racing and was relatively free of controversy, although one horse did stumble and fall (all the jockeys and horses involved were all right). The purses ranged from $1 million for a few of the 2-year-old races up to $6 million for the final race, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which is open to all ages and both genders of participants. Bettors poured $160.4 million into the wagering pools, mostly online, which was the 6th highest total of all time in spite of there being only a few spectators allowed at the venue. This amount was only 8% less than last year’s record $174 million. Racing officials were naturally happy and relieved that horse racing has seemed to survive the effects of the virus, and the races were competitive, exciting, and not without upsets – a very similar scenario, as it happens, to the political contests.
Election day saw some protests at the polls, but not nearly the disruption that some had predicted, and many of the contests were not decided until days later, after some 99% of the votes had been counted. And the Presidential race continued stumbling, as some questioned the results, challenged the rules in several states, and tried to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the entire election. The vote was close -although not that close, to be honest – but in the end the process worked: the vote was secure and fair, and the results legitimate.
In horse racing, everyone who enters knows the rules they are playing under, and how and who decides the contests. Lately, there have been some who lost races by judges’ decisions, disagreed with them, and felt it necessary to appeal such decisions in courts of law. These litigants, to a person, agreed to the rules before they entered the contest, lost, were unhappy with that result, and now suddenly disagree with the rules. Most courts have thus far thrown out these suits because the rules are, after all, the rules. Everyone knows that, and no one was holding these entrants’ hands to the fire to make them enter the race. The most notable recent case concerned the running of the 2019 Kentucky Derby, when the owners of Maximum Security, the horse who crossed the finish line first, was disqualified by the racing stewards for interference. Maximum Security’s owners appealed to the state Racing Commission to overturn the race result, which is the accepted procedure under racing jurisdiction guidelines. That appeal was denied. So, now unwilling to accept the rules they’d already agreed to – namely, that all decisions of the Stewards are final – the owners filed legal briefs in court asking the Judge to overturn the State Racing Commission’s ruling. So far, no judge has sided with them. It appears to this point that that is the case with the myriad political lawsuits, as well.
In another recent case, 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify was found to have a trace amount of an illegal substance in his system following a race held prior to the 2018 Kentucky Derby. By rule, the stewards should have disqualified him and given the money, and the win, to the horse that finished second. In this case, the stewards did not follow their own guidelines, did nothing to alter the results, and went so far as to not disclose this information to the public until almost three months later, AFTER Justify had won the 2018 Triple Crown. In their statement, they said that the bad test was the result of “environmental” causes, mainly due to a substance found in the hay that several horses had eaten – a decision which the rules do not allow for – and hence took no action. The owner of the second-place horse, Bolt d’Oro, filed a lawsuit asking that the money be redistributed so that he would get the several hundred thousand dollars more he was due should he have been declared the winner by disqualification, which the rules dictate. This case has gone through the courts, and so far, all decisions have gone in favor of the complainant, although the results have not yet been finalized. As an aside, the trainer of Justify was Bob Baffert, who just won this year’s Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic race with Authentic.
Mr. Baffert recently issued a long statement alleging no intentional wrongdoing in either the Justify case or a disqualification this spring in which one of his horses won a race in Arkansas but was later taken down by the stewards due to an excess of a banned substance found in the post-race test. The horse was disqualified, and its owners stripped of the purse money. In this case, the owners did not agree with the decision, but accepted it with no further litigation. In his statement, Baffert admitted to no “intentional” wrongdoing and promised to do a better job in the future monitoring his barns and their procedures. He has gone as far as hiring a full-time veterinarian to oversee his stable and its practices. I only mention this because it appears that some politicians seem to be following a similar playbook of filing lawsuits when things don’t go their way, especially when there is no apparent chance of victory or any evidence supporting their case. And, since these types of legal maneuvers are costly, it appears to me that one must have considerable means to use such tactics, especially since the costs of these actions often outweigh the odds of being victorious in court.
Another positive aftermath of the Breeders’ Cup race was felt the very next day as Keeneland held its annual fall sale on Sunday, November 8th. Several of the previous day’s winning horses were put up for auction, and many sold for huge prices, particularly Monomoy Girl, who was victorious in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff the day before and sold for a staggering $9.5 million. This amount tied for the third-highest price ever paid for a filly, behind two others who sold for $14 million and $10 million several years earlier. Other mounts sold Sunday for $5.5 million and $5 million, and seven others went for between $4.2 million and $1.8 million. Add to that the weanling – a horse not yet one year old – that sold for $600,000.
Several other horses who ran were sent off to begin stud duty, including Classic winner Authentic, who was sired by Into Mischief and will stand for $75,000. Into Mischief, the current leading U. S. sire, stands for $225,000, and set a record in November for single season progeny earnings of $19,994,720 – this with five weeks of racing yet to go this year. This amount put him ahead of long-time top sire Tapit, who himself stands for $185,000. It was also just reported that Into Mischief was responsible for 235 new foals in 2020. At $225,000 per cover, you can readily see why he is so valuable, and, not incidentally, why his son Authentic will now begin his career as a stallion, rather than continue racing.
The aftermath of the Breeders’ Cup is off to a good start and will be finalized as other sales are conducted and the Eclipse Awards are announced. As far as the elections are concerned, the aftermath has had its bumps in the road already. But in spite of the virus – and several other factors – it appears that elections, like horse racing, will continue to go on, maybe with a few bruises and law suits, but always with the hope of a better future for all of us who genuinely care about either politics or horse racing (or, for that matter, both of them.) As the Scottish writer and politician R. B. Cunninghame Graham once wrote: “God forbid that I should go to any Heaven in which there are no horses.”
