Breeders’ Cup Positive Trends

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It’s not all doom and gloom around here you know. I’m not ALWAYS being mean (or condescending!). In fact, despite not getting my winning exacta in in the Classic I’m in a good mood. Count me as one of the people who found this year’s Breeders’ Cup to be highly enjoyable despite a few unfortunate turns of events.

So, here are a few positive things I noticed that seemed worth sharing.

It’s not only fantastic that the Santa Anita track superintendent addressed the issue with the track, the most encouraging part of that scenario is that feedback was heard and acted upon. That, unfortunately, does not happen all that often in racing. Let’s see more of that, please.

What else? You’d never know it if you only paid attention to the trades or mainstream racing media, or even our friend Sid Fernando who generally has his finger on the pulse of all things:

https://twitter.com/sidfernando/statuses/397031633964265472

But there were some astute women ‘cappers giving out Breeders’ Cup opinions (I was not among them, by the way). This list is by no means inclusive, and I already Tweeted out these examples over the last few days, but just to collect them here:

Sam Siegel was on longshot Juvenile Filly winner Ria Antonia the Monday of Breeders’ Cup week.

She took a lot of great pictures but was sparing with praise, her are a few she did praise:
https://twitter.com/jayemesssam/statuses/395203366420090880″

While the clip isn’t on YouTube, Donna Brothers pointed out on TVG’s The Works that she thought Groupie Doll was likely to repeat as the winner of the Filly & Mare Sprint. I’m not sure about you, but I didn’t see too many other people saying that.

And, Jessica Chapel gave out some great opinions in the HANA Breeders’ Cup themed monthly magazine. She identified Beholder as the most likely winner of the two days, before anyone knew how the track was playing. And, she was the only of the other ‘cappers in the section (all men, by the way) to identify Game on Dude as a weak favorite. Beychok came the closest to that opinion by calling him vulnerable.

In our two days of picks at Hello Race Fans, which has a solid mix of men and women contributing, Jessica Chapel was Fridays top money picker and Valerie Grash was Saturday’s top money picker and the top money picker for the two days. In fairness Derek Brown picked the most winners, nosing out Val by one pick (all of our ‘cappers are good!).

While not specific to Breeders’ Cup capping, Jen Jade and Melissa Nolan are solid ‘cappers you can follow on Twitter on par with any of Sid’s mentions. And, I&’m not picking on Sid, it was just a great example of how guys are the lower brainstem “go to” choice for ‘capping opinions. And with that in mind, I reiterate my “hats off” to HANA for including Jessica and Melissa.

Oh, one more, Teresa Genaro puts together a good mix of ‘cappers for her Forbes pieces (full disclosure, I’m a standing invitee but declined to participate this year due to a pet illness). I didn’t get a chance to scrutinize this year’s Friday and Saturday picks pieces but at the very least it’s another “hats off” situation for inclusion of women for HANDICAPPING opinions.