Hey, VTA, no love for the Slam? Then how about a little love (and money) for VA-sired horses?

With even the Virginia Thoroughbred Association calling for its demise, I have to wonder if I'm the only person alive who appreciates the concept of the Grand Slam of Grass.

Battle of Hastings -- this year's winner, albeit hard-fought, of both the Colonial Turf Cup-G2 and Virginia Derby-G2 -- positioned himself to be the first-ever horse to claim the Grand Slam, a four-race series sponsored by Jacobs Investments (Jeffrey Jacobs owns Colonial Downs) that has the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park as its third leg and the Breeders' Cup Turf-G1 as the final base in the equine circuit clout. But Battle of Hastings won't be running this weekend in the Secretariat, apparently because the race is too close on the calendar to the horse's last effort 21 days ago in the Virginia Derby.

So, per the VTA blog, it's "Time to abandon the Grand Slam of Grass."

"Since 2004, when Colonial Downs owner Jeff Jacobs first offered the $5 million bonus (purse winnings included), no horse has come close to winning the four races that make up the Grand Slam," the blog states. "Colonial Downs management continues to cling to the Grand Slam of Grass bonus ignoring the obvious fact that owners and trainers aren’t embracing it for some pretty obvious reasons. The schedule is tough, and winning the Breeders Cup Turf against the best older horses from the U.S., Canada and Europe with a three-year-old is a tall order most won’t even consider pursuing. History has a nasty habit of repeating itself."

The VTA apparently would prefer to see the money Jacobs has spent funding big purses for the Turf Cup and Derby, the insurance premium that would actually pay the bonus of the Grand Slam, and the "considerable (advertising) dollars" spent airing the first two races on national television be applied toward "funding a turf stake for older horses so former Turf Cup and Virginia Derby horses could return to Colonial Downs." Those funds could bump the purse of the Kittens Joy Stakes to $250,000 or $300,000, the VTA writes.

So I oppose the VTA here on two counts.

First -- and again, I might be the only guy -- I think the Grand Slam of Grass is a great idea, though obviously one that has never really found traction.

The VTA and probably others, including the connections of top 3-year-olds, are apparently convinced the Grand Slam is unattainable. It isn't, and there is plenty of evidence to show that a truly great and deserving horse could win it. And, with $5 million total on the line, only a great horse should be good enough to take all four legs.

But let's examine what's so darned difficult about the Grand Slam of Grass.

Exactly how rigorous is the schedule, really? The Colonial Turf Cup-G2 in June, the Virginia Derby-G2 in mid-July, the Secretariat S.-G1 in early August. ... Then the Breeders' Cup Turf in late October or early November.

So the first three races fall in three different months; two of them at the same track. There's a 28-day span between the Turf Cup and the Virginia Derby, and another 21 days before the horse has to be fit again to try the Secretariat in Chicago. If a graded-stakes horse's conditioner can't figure out how to get a horse tight and right for three races in 50 days, perhaps he should call someone who trains a bunch of $5,000 platers for a little advice. Or anybody who's ever had a colt on the Triple Crown trail, which demands three races in 36 days.

So the Grand Slam of Grass races simply are not too close together. And even if they are, a one-week alteration in Colonial's schedule would add seven days between the Virginia Derby and the Secretariat, and if four weeks isn't enough, then either your horse or your trainer -- or both -- just aren't good enough anyway.

As for the difficulty of a 3-year-old winning the Breeders' Cup Turf at a mile and a half among older horses, such a win historically is improbable, but far from impossible.

In fact, seven of the 25 B.C. Turf winners have been 3-year-olds; that's 28 percent or nearly three in 10. Two of the first three winners of the race (Lashkari 1984 and Manila 1986) were younger horses facing older. So were two of the last three, including Conduit's stakes record in 2008 and Red Rocks' victory in 2006.

The remaining 3-year-olds to win the Breeders' Cup Turf were Prized in 1989, Tikkanen in 1991 and High Chaparral when he won his first of two at age 3 in 2002 (he dead-heated with Johar in 2003).

And other 3-year-olds have come close. Lately, Shamdinan was second to 5-year-old English Channel in 2007 and Kitten's Joy was runner-up to Better Talk Now in 2004, meaning that in four of the last five years, a 3-year-old has either run first or second in the Breeders' Cup Turf.

Kitten's Joy might be the best possible evidence that the Grand Slam is attainable. He didn't have a Colonial Turf Cup to try, but would have been among the favorites if he had. Then he won the Virginia Derby and the Secretariat before finishing second in what could have been his shot at the big bonus, the B.C. Turf, had his connections been targeting such a series from the get-go.

And the more we retire accomplished 3- and certainly 4-year-olds to stud, the more likely it becomes that a younger horse will win such a big race at the end of his 3-year-old season -- even on turf, even at a distance.

But if Jacobs and Colonial did drop the notion -- and the costs -- of the Grand Slam of Grass, funneling all those funds into only one other race would be a greater folly. Colonial Downs would benefit little from another Grade 3 or even Grade 2 race. And for the good of Virginia horse racing -- which is what the VTA is supposed to be all about -- a lower-graded race for out-of-state-breds certainly isn't the worthiest goal.

If Jacobs and Colonial were to drop the Grand Slam of Grass, the $200,000 to $250,000 that the VTA suggests should be added to the Kitten's Joy purse in an effort to make that one race a featured event on a third "big" Colonial date (to go along with Turf Cup Day and VA Derby Day) would be much better utilized in establishing a Virginia Stallion Series to save the state's breeding industry.

I've detailed repeatedly the sickening decline of Virginia's thoroughbred breeding business. It's the VTA that should be at the forefront of saving that industry and the jobs of those who work in it, and whatever the organization has tried for the past 15 years or so, hasn't worked. Once one of the nation's proudest and most active breeding states (where Secretariat himself was foaled in 1970), Virginia has declined from 154 resident stallions serving 837 mares in 1991 to just 41 stallions serving 123 mares in 2008.

"Epic fail," as my kids would say.

The best way to turn around Virginia's breeding industry -- and to add another big-ticket day of racing to Colonial Downs' annual schedule -- would be the establishment of a Virginia Stallion Champions Day. Like similar events in other states, I envision a full card of stakes races open only to Virginia-sired horses, regardless where they're foaled. (By contrast, this year's first two VA-bred stakes races drew 22 entries, 17 of which were sired outside the state, albeit born there, and none of which were sired by a horse still standing in Virginia.)

Taking a fairly modest estimate of a daily Colonial Downs total purse -- say, $125,000 to $150,000 -- and adding in the $250,000 the VTA advocates tossing wholesale at the Kitten's Joy Stakes (typically dominated by non-VA-breds) would create a $375K to $400K basic purse structure for such a "Champions Day." That's potentially eight $50,000 races for VA-sired horses, and that's a real incentive to use a Virginia-based stallion. With a major sponsorship, added funds from nominations and other minor sources, or an increase in available monies should the VTA ever succeed in its worthwhile goal of getting OTBs situated in Northern Virginia, that purse structure and the number of races on the card could grow.

The VTA is proud of its "100 percent VA-bred bonus program" at Colonial, wherein owners of Virginia-breds that win among open company get double the purse payout. That's great if you campaign a VA-bred; not nearly so beneficial over the long haul if you're the breeder who sold the horse to make a living. And it's no incentive whatsoever for a mare owner to use a Virginia stallion so long as said mare returns to the Old Dominion to foal, as a couple-hundred do each year.

It's far past time for the VTA to start supporting its staggering stallion industry. So if the VTA is going to advocate abandoning the Grand Slam of Grass, then it certainly shouldn't be touting a massive purse addition for the Kitten's Joy, a race that had exactly zero Virginia-breds entered this year.

The VTA instead should be pushing for that money to directly support Virginia farms, horses and jobs.

Monday musings: How 'bout that Va. Derby? And the sad state of horse racing publicity?

I'm tied up beyond belief for about eight days playing sports editor in addition to my normal job, which is boss of everybody in our dwindling newsroom at my local paper.

But at least that gave me an excuse to squeeze horse racing into Sunday's paper.

It also gives me cause to pause and gripe about the sorry state of general-audience racing journalism in the U.S.

On Saturday, two horses battled tooth and hoof for the second straight meeting, with Battle of Hastings again emerging the victor by a narrow margin over Straight Story in the Virginia Derby-G2. The pair had previously thrown down the gauntlet for the final furlongs of the Colonial Turf Cup-G2 in June, with similar results.

Now Battle of Hastings is poised to perhaps become the first horse to win the Grand Slam of Grass -- a four-race series that includes his recent two victories at Colonial Downs, plus upcoming dates in the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park and, if he's deemed fit and ready, the Breeders' Cup Turf in November at Santa Anita. If Battle of Hastings could win both the Secretariat and, against elders, the B.C. Turf, he would win a pot of purse money and incentives worth $5 million.

The Associated Press sent me 7 inches of copy on the race, with no quotes. (I know the horses don't talk, but the trainers and jockeys do.) And, the AP moved no photos. ... Nada. Zero. Zilch.

Searching the AP sports wire for items related to anything named "derby" in the last month or so, I received a story of similar length (also no photo) on the Rainbow Derby from Ruidoso Downs, where Inseperable won that Grade 1 race.

Also under recent "derby" coverage at AP: A nearly 20-inch story on Prince Fielder winning the Major League Baseball All-Star Home Run Derby, complete with 70 related photos -- seven ... zero ... seventy -- three of them art of not-even-the-latest American Idol winner, David Cook, singing prior to a virtually meaningless skills exhibition on the evening before a virtually meaningless baseball exhibition game.

(I used to be one of the biggest baseball fans you'd ever meet, by the way. A dozen reasons in including labor strikes, umpires who can't call strikes, and generally Bud Selig -- particularly his handling of the 2002 All-Star Game that ended in a tie, showing just how meaningless MLB had decided that game really was -- have sealed the "great American pastime's" fate on my sports radar.)

Among the remaining odd conglomeration of items filed under "derby" were: four photos from a children's fishing derby in Little Rock, Ark.; two pictures of the late Lawyer Ron (who didn't win the Kentucky Derby, but the fact he ran in the race the was apparently AP's reason to mention his death); two pictures from the Worland (Wyo.) Demolition Derby; a story just as long as the Virginia Derby piece about a company promoting lawn mower demolition derbies in Kentucky; and a couple of pics of Mine That Bird, one a "mugshot" to go with a brief about a promotional visit he's making to New Mexico, and one a pre-Preakness workout file phoot to illustrate the story of Magna Entertainment's bankruptcy.

Oh, and seven pictures from the Kingfisher Derby -- one of the most prestigious races in India, Bangalore, to be exact, with its purse of 12,500,000 rupees ($256,305, which actually is a pretty good chunk of change). ... I'm not sure whether a story moved to go with those photos, and the winner, Aboline, was unmentioned and not pictured. Maybe it was supposed to be a feature package just for color.

Point is ... what the bloody hell?

I know horse racing has fallen on hard times in gaining the public's eye. But have our top races not on the Triple Crown trail really slipped to equal in the ranks with AP's "BC-ODD" news like lawn mower derbies? Fewer photos sent than those from an Arkansas fishing derby where nobody outside of Little Rock -- and probably few of the 185,000 people in Little Rock -- even know any of the kids in the pictures?

I know the D.C. papers have probably dropped virtually all racing coverage. (I met laid-off Washington Post turf writer John Scheinman at a past Virginia Derby; a heckuva a nice guy and a very good handicapper.)

But the Richmond Times-Dispatch was on hand, and a butchered version of its story was probably what made the wire. (Though it could've been the butchered version of something from the Daily Racing Form.) ... And the Times-Dispatch had photos; why would that paper not move pictures for other AP members? And why -- when they failed to do so -- wouldn't the AP national sports desk rattle the Times-Dispatch's cage to obtain a photo?

Because just about nobody cares anymore, that's why.

I'm convinced it isn't just or even primarily because of doping and horse welfare issues, and it isn't only the fact that not everybody gambles (and many of those who do prefer casino games). It isn't largely the introduction and rise of other sports (soccer, NASCAR) to steal the limelight.

It's all those things, yes. But more.

I think horse racing's decline is just as much because those whose job it was and is to market racing dropped the ball along the way. And kicked that ball backwards about half a century. And sent nobody back to get the ball and run his ass off to catch up.

More on that rant later. Back to laying out a sports section in which nostalgia and tradition -- Tom Watson nearly winning the British Open at Turnberry -- is what still has the sports world buzzing from an otherwise fairly quiet weekend.

Quiet, and yet a pretty nice gelding wins a knockdown, drag-out race over a horse who is becoming his arch-rival, to put himself halfway to earning $5 million, and it was almost as if a tree had fallen in the forest with nobody there to hear it.

OMG, Blood-Horse, are you effing kidding?

Nicanor is out of the Virginia Derby with a leg injury. And that's a big deal. But should that prompt racing journalists to behave like 16-year-old girls updating their Facebook status?

The headline on the brief blog posting at bloodhorse.com announcing Nicanor's scratch from the race was -- I kid you not -- "OMG! Nicanor Scratched Due to Leg Injury."

OMG? ...OMG!?!

You're The Blood-Horse, for heaven's sake. Not LOLcats.

Srsly.

Va. Derby loses Nicanor to leg injury

Scheduled to cover for an employee Saturday in North Carolina, I was seriously considering scenarios in which I could do some work ahead of time, skip out for half a day (and by that I mean 12 hours) and travel to New Kent, Va., to cover the Virginia Derby-G2 at Colonial Downs.

No need, now. Nicanor's out.

Nicanor, the baby full brother of ill-fated Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was scheduled to make his stakes debut Saturday at Colonial. But trainer Michael Matz said the Dynaformer colt injured himself in a workout this week and will be scratched.

Rats.

That doesn't mean the Virginia Derby won't be a decent race. Colonial Turf Cup champ Battle of Hastings returns, as do rivals from that race, Lime Rickey, Take the Points and Straight Story. The latter is in at an attractive 10/1 morning line considering he nearly beat Battle of Hastings in the Turf Cup.

Also in are Kentucky Derby starter Hold Me Back (5/1), Affirmatif, Churchill Downs G2 winner and Japanese-bred Florentino, El Crespo and Safety Valve.

So I still would love to see the race in person. I think it will be a good one.

But Nicanor was the only name that would make me pursue the nonsensical -- scramble to get last-minute credentials; sneak out of town when I should be at work; drive almost three hours there (and then back) to stand by the inside rail near the finish line.

I hope he's well, I hope all have a safe trip Saturday (including those fans who are driving to New Kent for the race), and that the finish to the Derby as as rousing as that in the Turf Cup.

I'll be watching on CBS.

Barbaro's baby brother could be Va. Derby-bound

If you didn't have enough reason to watch and care about the July 18 Virginia Derby-G2 at Colonial Downs, the Virginia Thoroughbred Association's blog states that Nicanor -- 3-year-old brother of the brilliant but ill-fated Barbaro -- has been pointed to the race by trainer Michael Matz.

Barbaro, as anyone not living under a rock (and a few who have been) would know was the unbeaten champion of the Kentucky Derby in 2007, but suffered a grievous injury in the early stages of the Preakness Stakes and was retired to fight for his life. He died more than eight months later, in January 2007, at the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School's New Bolton Center, where he had been treated ever since breaking his leg in the Preakness.

Nicanor started his career with three races on the dirt without winning, but rocketed to impressive victories on the grass in his next two starts. That's unsurprising, considering Barbaro broke his maiden and was a graded-stakes winner on turf before switching to the main track for the Derby trail. I happen to believe that, had he lived to prove it and been given future races on the lawn, Barabro would've been known as being at least as good a grass horse as he was a dirt-runner and probably better.

The Virginia Derby has become one of the best turf races in the country apart from the Breeders' Cup, and should soon have earned recognition as a Grade 1 race. It's last five winners are Gio Ponti, Red Giant, Go Between, English Channel and Kitten's Joy, all went on to be Grade 1 winners, the latter pair champions. Colonial Downs is an absolutely beautiful, pastoral place to visit and it's quite near Colonial Williamsburg and not too far from Virginia Beach for those looking to make a week of things.

And this year, the Virginia Derby could feature Nicanor.

I'm scheduled to work that Saturday at home North Carolina. ... Crud!

But now what's your excuse for not going?

Battle of Hastings -- barely -- in Turf Cup

Favorite Battle of Hastings took the Colonial Turf Cup-G2 Saturday, but he had to fight for it.

The Royal Applause gelding rated patiently off the pace and burst ahead to take a clear lead in mid-stretch, but was bravely challenged at the wire by Straight Story, a Giant's Causeway colt making only his fifth start. Straight Story had led early, then was forced all the way out to the eight-path by Al Khali on the turn for home and had to straighten out again before closing gamely on the eventual winner.

Battle of Hastings and Tyler Baze gritted out the victory, but only by a head, taking home the winner's share of $288,000 for owner Mike House and trainer Jeff Mullins. Straight Story collected $96,000 -- nearly double the total amount of money he'd earned in his life entering the race -- for owner Richard Santulli and trainer Alan Goldberg.

Time for the 9 1/2 furlongs was 1:57.79.

Lime Rickey, building a reputation as a bridesmaid with his fourth on-the-board finish in stakes company without yet getting a blacktype win, came home third, a length and a quarter in arrears of the throwdown at the front and just a head in front of Take The Points.

Despite taking the Turf Cup in its first year as a Grade 2 event, I'm not sure Battle of Hastings particularly advances his reputation off the race. He was already a Grade 3 winner sprinting on grass and a listed winner around two turns. And this group didn't strike me as all that strong, as it was an assortment of just-missers (Lime Rickey), colts trying the dirt to turf angle (Take The Points, Al Khali) and horses that had done little or nothing in stakes company prior. I'm surprised Battle of Hastings paid $7.40 to win, as I think his price could've been shorter.

But the race should send notice that Straight Story might have more dramatic chapters ahead in his racing saga. Coming into the race 2-for-4 lifetime with around $57,000 earned, he did much of the work on the front end, and off the rail, not the shortest way around the circuit. Then he got swept out into the center of the course by Al Khali on the turn and still overcame everyone but Battle of Hastings at the wire, and might've caught him with another jump or two.

Health willing, I'd expect them to knock heads again in the $750,000 Virginia Derby-G2 over the same Colonial Downs turf course. Battle of Hastings has positioned himself as the only horse in America this year with the chance to win the Grand Slam of Grass -- Colonial Turf Cup, VA Derby, Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park, Breeders' Cup Turf -- and the $5 million it promises in total prize money and bonuses. And Straight Story showed he liked the course and was coming on strong at nine and a half panels; shouldn't have trouble with 10.

I'm not sure who else will show up for the Derby; Lime Rickey might as well give it another try. But if only the first two from the Turf Cup are repeaters in July -- and if they repeat these performances -- the Virginia Derby will be a race quite worth watching.

Sailor's Cap killer: Colitis-X

A necropsy of Sailor's Cap -- recent winner of the Poker Stakes-G3 at Belmont Park who spiked a temperature, collapsed and died in his stall just days later -- has blamed the death on Colitis-X.

I won't share all the messy symptoms, you can read the Blood-Horse story for that, but Colitis-X is a mysterious ailment, causes not completely known, that strikes quickly and obviously is deadly. According to thehorse.com, the Merck Veterinary Manual says the illness is characterized by its "acute onset" of symptoms and that many of the affected horses have "a history of stress." A few other prior ailments are listed as possible precursors to Colitis-X, but apparently at this time veterinary science just isn't sure of the exact cause.

The necropsy was performed at the New Bolton Research Center in Kennett Square, Pa., part of the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary school.

Sailor's Cap defeated four other rivals including Kip Deville in the Poker on June 14. On Tuesday the 16th, according to his trainer, Jimmy Toner, the colt's temperature rose unexpectedly. By Wednesday he was dead.

The 4-year-old son of Distant View out of the Caveat mare Wave On won four of 10 starts for $616,970 in his abbreviated career. At 3, he was victor of the drenched Colonial Turf Cup-G3 at 9.5 furlongs (pictured), and came home third behind Gio Ponti and Court Vision in his next start, the Grade 2 Virginia Derby at 10 furlongs over the same Colonial Downs course. His other stakes placing at 3 was finishing second behind Tizdejavu in the Crown Royal American Turf S.-G3 at Churchill Downs.

Sailor's Cap was bred in Kentucky by Wave On LLC, a partnership of Team Valor International, who campaigned the colt.

The long and the short of it: Colonial's turf course

In less than a week, they'll be off and running again at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va. While some fans lament the track's location -- it isn't terribly convenient to any metro area, though less than an hour from Richmond -- I enjoy its rural setting and in my experience the track management and staff have always been quite accommodating both for fans and media.

What I'm not so tickled with is the stakes schedule, which is apparently limited by the configuration of its otherwise spectacular turf course.

Last year, Colonial didn't just trim, it hacked, significant distance out of a few statebred stakes races. I e-mailed the track to ask why, and a top official at Colonial called me back within 30 minutes -- I kid you not, called, not e-mailed, I told you they're accommodating -- and we discussed the matter for about a half-hour.

The Virginia Thoroughbred Association makes the decisions when it comes to statebred stakes races, I was told. And, having trouble filling some of them, I was informed by Colonial that the VTA decided shorter was better. So mile or mile-and-a-sixteenth races were carded last year at 5 1/2 furlongs instead, and mostly are again this year.

That isn't just "shorter." That's short. ... Really freakin' short.

Now, I'm a fan of turf racing, and of distance racing. Frankly, those two often go hand in hand, as grass horses frequently have a bit more European lineage and stayer influence. But I also appreciate the horses who can and do run short. Among Virginia-breds, Bop is one of my all-time favorites, and for him, shorter was always better.

But dropping the distance from 8.5 furlongs to 5.5 furlongs was unlikely to broaden the field, and last year it really didn't, even though the VTA and Colonial attempted to expand entries by turning 3-year-old only events into stakes races for 3- and 4-year-olds. The Oakley Stakes last year went off with seven horses, little or no improvement from when it was run at a distance.

That's because for every sprinter you draw with a short race, you risk eliminating a miler. I have friends among Virginia's horsemen and horsewomen who were out of the Oakley Stakes last year once they learned it was being run at 5.5f. It was just too short for their horse.

This year there are 23 nominations for the Oakley, which will be run next Sunday, June 7, on the meeting's opening weekend. We'll see how many make it to post.

The ideal compromise in my opinion would be to run these races at a "middling" distance; preferably 7 furlongs. That way the milers have to shorten up a bit, the sprinters might have to last just a little longer than they'd prefer, but in either case the connections of all might be willing to take a shot.

Trouble is, Colonial's turf course, the most beautiful (in my opinion) and widest (by point of fact, at 180 feet) grass course in the country, with up to 10 different rail configurations, apparently is restricted to either the shortest of sprints, or to route racing. It's seven-eighths of a mile in circumference with no chutes to provide for anything other than 5 or 5 1/2 furlongs, or a mile or more. (There's an abbreviated chute on the turn for home that, coupled with the widest rail settings, permits the 10 furlong distance of the Virginia Derby-G2.)

Seems like bad planning to me.

The track has a 10-furlong dirt course, with a chute so long that in the fall, trotters can blaze their way around a one-turn mile, a configuration unique among harness courses. But at a track where a majority of the thoroughbred races are carded on the lawn, there's no such thing as a 6-, 6 1/2-, 7- or 7 1/2- furlong grass race. None. ... And that's hard for me to fathom.

I wonder what, if anything, could be done about it now. I've included an overhead shot of Colonial while under construction (above, "borrowed" from Resource International, an engineering firm that was part of the project) and track layouts ("borrowed" from the Daily Racing Form) for both Colonial (top) and Lone Star Park.

What I'm wondering is whether a diagonal chute like the one Lone Star has cut between the apex of the turn for home and final stretch, could be duplicated in reverse, so to speak, at Colonial, where the chute would run through the open grass to the left of the two lakebeds in the aerial photo, in effect short-cutting the far turn, perhaps allowing for 6- and 7-furlong distances (just guessing).

I had often wondered why there weren't races from 6 to 7.5 furlongs (or somewhere in that range) on the turf course at Colonial, but apparently wasn't smart or inquisitive enough to find out.

But other than cost (likely considerable) -- and the prospects that, perhaps, the infield grass and lakes are part of a wetlands tradeoff (read the engineer's page on the project) that couldn't be altered -- I don't know why Colonial's track management wouldn't want additional configurations and distances.

I'm open to comments here, particularly from VTA members, Colonial Downs staff, or anyone with the inside skinny on why Colonial was built the way it was, and whether modifications to the course are feasible now.