Mike Brunker Horse racing editor • Profile • E-mail

When John Gaines first proposed the series of thoroughbred championship races that would become known as the Breeders’ Cup, he promised a day of equine competition that would be “racing’s finest hour.”

He was right in many ways. As it enters its 22nd year, the Breeders’ Cup has seared more than its share of dramatic moments into racing fans’ collective memory – Arazi’s astounding Juvenile romp; the tragic confrontation between Bayakoa and Go for Wand; Ghostzapper’s sizzling victory in last year’s Classic; Personal Ensign’s out-of-nowhere victory to conclude her unbeaten career; and others too numerous to mention.

But in a strange way that Gaines could not have envisioned, the Breeders’ Cup also has come to represent what is wrong with horse racing in America. And this year’s $4 million Classic puts those shortcomings clearly on display.

It’s not that the 22nd running of the richest race in North America won’t be interesting to horseplayers. As it seems to do each year, Saturday’s Classic has drawn a competitive cast of top-flight handicap horses, improving 3-year-olds, European stars looking to add a prestigious dirt race to their resumes and a handful of against-all-odds entrants that would be right at home in the new movie “Dreamer.”

Who's running?
But stop anyone on the street and ask if can name a single horse in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic and the answer, I can almost assure you, will be “no.”

The problem isn’t just racing’s well-documented slide in popularity from its heyday a half century ago. It’s a singular lack of continuity that makes it nearly impossible to attract fans who want to be able to follow a favorite horse for more than a year or two.

This problem is hardly new, but each year it seems to be getting worse as a result of the increasing fragility of the American thoroughbred and an out-of-control breeding industry.

Consider, for example, the horses that aren’t in the field for Saturday’s Classic:

• Where are the top 3-year-olds? Horses like Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Afleet Alex, early Derby favorite Declan’s Moon and actual Derby favorite Bellamy Road? All injured and in varying stages of attempted comebacks. Given their value at stud (with the exception of the gelded Declan’s Moon), don’t be surprised if several or all of the others never make another start, even though all had only begun to reach their potential.
• Flip back to the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and look for the future stars from that race who might have been expected to mix it up in the 2005 Classic. I only recognize one horse – Mambo Train -- from that list who is still racing at a reasonably high level.
• And where are the best older horses from last year, such as defending Classic champ Ghostzapper, runner-up Roses in May, or 2003 Classic winner Pleasantly Perfect? Retired, retired and retired.
• Did I mention that Smarty Jones, a 4-year-old this year, was retired before last year’s Breeders’ Cup with what one veterinarian described as a minor injury? No slight intended to the accomplished horses entered in this year’s Classic — Saint Liam, Rock Hard Ten, Borrego and Oratorio, among others — but can you imagine how much buzz the race would have generated had he been in the lineup?

In fact, only one horse is back from last year’s field to contest the 2005 Classic – Perfect Drift. The fact that he is a gelding, lacking the essential equipment for a lucrative career at stud, tells you all you need to know about the big reason he is still racing at the ripe-old age of 6.

Slide show   Images of the Triple Crown See images from the 2005 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.

To understand how much the lack of marquee names hurts an event like the Breeders’ Cup consider how many baseball fans you might find in the stands if Nolan Ryan, after throwing his first no-hitter, had been rushed off to sire the next generation of pitching phenoms? What if Dan Marino or Joe Montana had been turned out to pasture early in their careers rather than risk injury from a marauding defensive lineman?

That’s the challenge facing those who would capitalize on the interest in horse racing generated by the excellent book and movie “Seabiscuit” and now the movie “Dreamers.” Racing’s stars are worth far more procreating far from the public eye than they are displaying their natural competitive spirit and physical talent on the racetrack.

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