Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem for Oct. 9, 2025

A good Thursday morning to you all! Busiest sports time of year as all four of the “major” U.S. sports are now going. In horse racing, the lead up to the Breeders’ Cup will now kick into gear as the prep races are basically all done. I think as a general rule with big events sometimes, we get ahead of ourselves as there’s still good racing coming up these next few weeks before the Breeders’ Cup. I usually find it’s not until the draw that I really get amped up for it anymore. Back in the day the second the nominations came out I would spend evenings handicapping and for two weeks. Certainly didn’t help my results. 

One horse who won't be at the Breeders’ Cup is last Saturday's Champagne (G1) winner Napoleon Solo. Trainer Chad Summers made some noise on the interwebs yesterday when he announced they’d skip the race out of fear of “bouncing” off their big performance in the Champagne. Bouncing is one of those handicapping angles I feel like I don’t hear as much anymore, but if you don’t know, essentially they think the big effort last time out might cause the horse to regress a little bit in his next start. So they’re going to skip the Juvenile (G1) and point towards a winter campaign at Gulfstream Park. 

Many people online spoke up about their frustration or general disappointment about the decision. There was also the predictable support from the “do right by the horse” crowd who seemingly prefer horses almost never run. The big difference between racing and almost every other sport is that every other sport has a schedule and a calendar that teams or people are either required to participate in or basically have to compete in or they won’t be in the league any longer. 

If I’m a fan of the Seattle Mariners, which I am, I know that they are going to play 162 games between late March and the end of September. If they miss one of those because of weather or something, they make it up. I know what time and what city they will play in well in advance of the games. Same goes for football, basketball, hockey, and basically every team sport. Now “tours” like tennis, golf, or bowling, the combatants don’t technically have to play in every event. Many of the top players will pick a schedule to their liking, but they all will play enough to keep up on points and earnings to keep on their respective “tour.” 

Horse racing however, you never have to run. It’s always completely optional. Sure, similar to the tours, if you don’t create wins and earnings, you might get excluded from random races. But if you want to just run once or twice a year, you’re completely within your rights to. In fact, unless your horse is a star, nobody will really even complain that much about it. If LeBron James just played like 10 games a year, people would freak out. I get that a horse and a human are different athletic creatures, but it’s just kind of interesting how we don’t truly have schedules. I feel like we used to. 

Surely everyone knows when the Kentucky Derby (G1) is and most trainers with a good three-year-old will point to it. And back in the day, everyone would obviously point to the Preakness (G1) and Belmont (G1) after that. No more. Now when a horse wins the Derby it’s not a certainty or even a strong likelihood that they’ll go. So there is a schedule, there’s just no guarantee anyone keeps to it. 

When I first started working in racing in 2004 at Emerald Downs, there were the top horses in each division. There were four or five stakes races a season for each division, and all the top horses would show up each time they’d come around. They didn’t wait around, skip a race, or just “train up” to the big one. It was fun to really follow each division as it ebbed and flowed throughout the year. I’m sure we won’t go back to that at the higher levels because the breeders, owners, and trainers all seem to want horses to run less and less. And maybe that works for them. But it sure doesn’t for those of us who like horse RACING. 

Have a great weekend everyone!