New system points way to ’ 13 Derby

The new road to the Kentucky Derby embraces Oaklawn Park’s four major races for 3year- olds in 2013.

Churchill Downs announced Thursday a revamping of the qualifying system for the 139th Kentucky Derby, a point system replacing money earned in graded stakes to determine which 20 horses enter the May classic. The old plan had been in place since 1986, helping set 20- horse fields every year since 2004 and 12 of the last 14 years.

The new system, officially called the “Road to the Kentucky Derby,” features 36 stakes for 3- year- olds in a 10- week prelude known as the “Kentucky Derby Championship Series.” In addition, three Oaklawn stakes are included in a point system to select the maximum field of 14 3- year- old fillies for the Kentucky Oaks.

“Our primary driving motive is to create new fans for horse racing,” said Churchill Downs Inc. chairman and CEO Bob Evans. “We’re implementing a more fan- friendly, cohesive and simplified system that should create compelling drama and appeal to a wider customer base. Fans, as well as the owners and trainers of the horses, will know exactly which races are included and what races matter the most based on a scale of points.”

The new series is divided into two phases, each offering different points to the top four finishers of each race.

Kentucky Derby Prep Season comprises 19 races on dirt, synthetic surfaces or turf over distances of at least one mile typically run between late September and late February. It includes Oaklawn’s one- mile Smarty Jones and Grade 3 Southwest stakes, each offering 10 points to the winner, 4 to the runner- up, 2 for third place and 1 point for fourth place.

Kentucky Derby Championship Series has two divisions. Oaklawn’s Grade 2 Rebel falls under the 50- 20- 10- 5 scoring system while the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby rewards 100, 40, 20 and 10 points, respectively, to the top four finishers. The Rebel is a mile and one- sixteenth, and the Arkansas Derby, won this year by subsequent Kentucky Derby and Preakness runnerup Bodemeister, is a mile and an eighth.

Two “wild- card” events at Kentucky tracks, one each at Keeneland and Churchill Downs, offer a late opportunity to qualify on a 20- 8- 4- 2 points scale.

A maximum 24 horses may enter the Kentucky Derby, four

listed as “also eligible” and with a chance of drawing into the field if any higher- ranked entrant is a late scratch. Earnings in nonrestricted stakes races, whether graded or not, is the first tiebreaker if two or more horses have the same number of points. If horses dead- heat in a Road to the Kentucky Derby event, they will divide equally the points they would have received jointly had one beaten the other.

“This works well for us,” said David Longinotti, Oaklawn’s assistant general manager of racing. “This puts the emphasis more on 3- year- old racing than 2- year- old racing, which is good for Oaklawn where the focus is on preparing horses for the Triple Crown.”

Oaklawn’s one- mile Martha Washington is listed in the Kentucky Oaks Prep Season series ( 10- 4- 2- 1 point system) and the Grade 3 Honeybee ( 50- 20- 10- 5) and Grade 2 Fantasy ( 100- 4020- 10) in the Kentucky Oaks Championship Series.

“People understand that the Kentucky Derby is the Super Bowl of horse racing, but they don’t understand what the ‘ league’ structure is and what the series is to get there,” said Churchill Downs racetrack President Kevin Flanery.

“We think by simplifying this series with a point system, making it more cohesive and introducing the ‘ Kentucky Derby Championship Series’ in the 10 weeks that precede the race can spark fan interest and engage the casual fan earlier. If there’s compelling drama and people have a better understanding of what it takes to get into the Derby, we think there’s a good chance they’ll become more interested in our sport.”

Flanery’s opinion was far from unanimous.

“You’re telling me that the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile is worth the same [ 10 points to the winner] as the Delta Downs Jackpot? And what about the Illinois Derby being excluded?” said Equibase Co. chart caller Jeff Taylor, reached at Louisiana Downs.

“They said it took them 11 months to come up with this plan, but it looks like they only took a day and a half. I think it’s a step in the right direction but not necessarily the best direction,” Taylor said.

Trainer Steve Asmussen, both of whose 2012 Derby starters ( Daddy Nose Best and Sabercat) would have made the field under the points system, said he was “absolutely opposed” to the changes and said the previous system “really seemed like it was working just fine.

“We’re in horse racing because the results are obvious; they’re self- evident,” Asmussen said. “This isn’t some subjective sport like figure skating where you don’t know who the French judge is. The Derby is the only thing that seems to be working, so why have they tinkered with it.”

Trainer Bob Baffert, besides saying some of the races in his native California “were snubbed a little bit,” anticipated races being downgraded and “I’m just afraid ... it’ll give the other tracks a reason to cut their purses on them, which I don’t think is fair to the owners. On the point system, if a race is given 100 points, then it should be a $ 1 million race.” [ Baffert- trained horses swept Oaklawn’s graded Derby preps this year, including two divisions of the Southwest, and his Mamma Kimbo won the Fantasy in her second career start.]

Said trainer Dale Romans: “I haven’t read them all [ changes] yet, but I didn’t know we had a problem.”