I know that it is about 6 weeks before the Breeders’ Cup but was wondering if you could please, for the sake of any new stables (and some old-timers, like me, who suffer from “some-timers” disease), list the rules for entering horses in these races. In particular, areas that I have always had trouble trying to remember, such as:-
(1) the fact that a horse can only be entered if it is in the top-14 qualifiers, regardless of whether it is in the Sup. Nom. list or not.
(2) the number of horses that a stable can enter in each race - I think it is 2 (1 for 2yo races) up to the last day of entries then unlimited on the last day, provided they are in the top-20 (the part I always tend to forget) and subject to the 14 horse maximum for each race.
(3) Say you have a horse that is in the top-14 qualifiers list for a particular race, and you enter it in the race as soon as the entries open. However, by the day entries close, a number of horses have been Supplemented for the race and your horse is no longer in the top-14 (maybe not even in the top-20) and the race is full. What will happen to your horse, will it get scratched or allowed to race?
One thing I have never been able to understand is the Supplemental Nomination rankings. Say that you have a horse that is not on the top-20 qualifiers list but, when you look at it on the Sup. Nom. list, it says that it is ranked #3 out of 196. Does this mean that it is ranked #3 of ONLY the horses that are eligible to be Supplemented for the race or that it is #3 of the top-20 qualifiers AND those eligible to be Supplemented. In other words, is it possible that you could Supplement this horse for the race, yet it still won’t be in the top-20 Qualifiers? If that did happen, what would happen with the Supplemental Nomination Fee? Would you get it back or would you lose it (I seem to recall you saying some years ago that you would lose the Fee, that it would be like you entered the horse in a race and then scratched it at the last minute).
I am trying to decide which horses I am going to potentially enter in these races and map out their training routines and race entries for the next few weeks.
Supplemental nominations mean that the horse wasn’t nominated as a weanling for the BC. The ranking, to the best of my knowledge, lets you know where they rank in the overall list if you were to nominate them. This way people can avoid spending the money to supplementally nominate a horse that doesn’t qualify.
Sigh… the 1-2 2yo per race is going to kill me. My 2yos (currently) own the turf lists.
First off, thanks for the reminder - I’ve been meaning to (and forgot about) adding in a deadline for supplemental nominations so that you can’t nominate once races are open. (That’s now in place, and should clear up some confusion.)
Basically, the top 14 qualifiers at the time that races open should be guaranteed a slot, if they want to run.
That means:
If your horse is in the top 14 when races open, enter it as early as you like.
If your horse is not in the top 14, you either:
enter early if you know there will be a space. For example, you own two 2yo colts - Bob and Joe. They’re both qualified for the BC Juve and BC Juve Turf, but Bob is qualified as #2 and #3 and Joe is #15 and #16. If you enter Bob in the BC Juve Turf, you know he won’t run in the BC Juve, therefore Joe’s #15 slot gets bumped up one because Joe isn’t using his #2 spot. You can enter both on the day entries open. (I only recommend this approach for horses you personally own - people can change their mind about what races they want to enter, so relying on spotting another owner’s horse in a different race may not work out so well.)
wait until the last day of entries and then enter if there’s room.
You can enter as many horses as you can afford to run in BC races - you aren’t limited to 2 (or 3) per stable (just what horses qualify).
Rank #3 out of 196 is meant to be the entire list (including the current top 20). However, I think it’s a bit buggy - I’ll be revamping it in the beta.
If you supplement your horse and it doesn’t end up in the top 20 (either due to miscalculated ranking or other horses supplementing as well), you’re out the fee. That’s why people should nominate their weanlings, and/or late nominate for the whole Breeders’ Cup instead.
Just wondering since they are called ‘Breeder’s Cups’ am I allowed to nominate horses bred by other people or Final Furlong since I have a couple that qualify?
Actually can I ask, since I’m not sure if it’s a bug, my filly Vesuvius finalfurlong.org/viewhorse.php?horse=17167 only shows up on the Open lists, not the distaffs, when I look at the Supplemental Nominations
This is great! Thanks for posting this. My question is… how can you tell if your horse is even nominated to the BC if his sire is retired? I’m crossing my fingers Serrafimo will qualify in time, but I don’t even know if he’s eligible to begin with (if his sire’s owner nominated him to the BC for 2015 foals). finalfurlong.org/viewhorse.php?horse=18841
I think Shanthi always nominates her studs so Highland Wizard should have been BC nominated. If you go to ‘Racing Links’ and click on the BC supplemental nominations link at the bottom, it should come up with a list of your racehorses that aren’t yet BC nominated. If any of your horses are eligible for BC races this year it’ll give you an option to nominate for individual races. If they’re not, or you want to nominate for future years, it’ll give you an option to nominate for 2018 onwards - as far as I can tell, if the sire was BC nominated this will usually cost you $150,000, non-BC nominated studs cost $250,000 (e.g. studs owned by FF). That’s how I usually look it up. Hope that’s not too confusing!
It says ‘no nominations found’ on Serrafimo’s page when I click the nominations tab. Shanthi, do you know if Highland Wizard’s 2015 crop was nominated? Is there any way you could look it up since you own him?
Also, nothing comes up when I go to the supplemental nomination page. Maybe it’s because I don’t have $150k right now? (had it the other day, been spending)
He was nominated, but that doesn’t mean she was. The stallion gets nominated for the breeding year, but then the babies have to be nominated individually.
Yes, it won’t show you the options to nominate if you can’t afford to do so.
Good to know! Thanks. I’ve got a quarter of my string racing tomorrow so hopefully I’ll get a nice paycheck and can take a peek at that nomination page. Putting it at the top of my gaming to-do list for tomorrow
Shanthi - I don’t know if you can manually update the Qualifiers list. If you can, I have one horse, [color=red]Flight of Silk, who is in the lists for a number of races, but who won’t be able to run due to injury. If you can remove her from the lists, then that might open slots for other horses, especially as she in in the list for 6 races.
She is in the Sprint, Filly & Mare Sprint, Dirt Mile, Classic, Filly & Mare Turf & Distaff
On the supplemental nomination page where it lists the horses I can nominate, one of them is listed as qualified ‘5 of 5’ and ‘5 of 6’, but she doesn’t show up in the page of that race. scratches head cluelessly
(Just for Breeders’ Cup races, though - they’re the only special ones.)