The Del Mare parade ring on the Saturday of the Breeders’ Cup meeting (Horsephotos)
Drakenstein Stud’s racing manager Kevin Sommerville spoke about how well organised the Breeders’ Cup was as an event and how well the owners and breeders were catered for, which had led to it being a most enjoyable meeting for Beach Bomb’s owner and breeder Gaynor Rupert.
Kevin has been to many of the top racemeetings around the world including the Melbourne Cup, the Epsom Derby, the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes and now the Breeders’ Cup, among others.
He said they were difficult to compare because one could have been younger and more impressionable when attending certain of the meetings, for example he attended the Melboure Cup as a 21 year-old.
However, he said the Breeder’s Cup was incredibly well organised to the extent that the huge crowd did not seem to be big at all.
He spoke of the parking arrangements in which attendees park in various car parks or fields well away from the course and are then bussed to within twenty metres of the entrance gate.
Hundres of busses were evident so there was no delay.
Connections of a runner were similarly bussed in from their hotels to the entrance gate.
He said the ticketing arrangements were equally well organised.
Owners and breeders had excellent seats from which to spectate and the catering had been five star.
He said although the parade ring at Del mar is small he had found it easier to access than the huge parade ring at Ascot. Number signs are also put up so the connections of a horse know exactly where to meet each other and the jockey can see immediately where to go.
He summed it up by saying, “It was an incredibly well organised event, one of the best I’ve been to. For there to be such a large crowd and for it to be so easily navigatable through the facilities … it didn’t feel like there was a big crowd even though there was. The owner experience was definitely one of the best I’ve seen in the world. The attention to detail for the owners and the breeders was second to none, far superior to any other racemeeting I’ve ever been to. From that perspective it was excellent.”
However, he added the atmosphere did not match some of the other events he had been to around the world. This could possibly be because the Breeders’ Cup attracts the purist.
He said, “It was not the most raucous crowd. I’ve been to the Belmont Stakes and it definitely had more atmoshere because there were more people and it was louder. I’ve been to the Kentucky Derby too and that was crazier and louder but also more disorganised, whereas the Breeders’ Cup is phenomenally well organised, there is no waiting around. There certainly is an atmosphere at the Breeders’ Cup. It is just not the biggest atmosphere I’ve ever experienced.”
Gaynor Rupert would not have missed the Breeders Cup for the world and hopefully having a runner will become a regular occurrence.
Beach Bomb qualified for the BC Filly and Mare Turf by winning the Cartier Paddock Stakes, which is run at the meeting Gaynor has passionately converted into a world class spectator experience, the L’Ormarin’s Kings Plate meeting.
