Anthony Nunes — I am not disappointed at all on the contrary, I understand when I spoke to Chairman [Solomon] Sharpe what direction he is trying to lead us in. I think we have to run races in a way so that it is not only competitive for the punters but also for the owners. If you look at last year’s Oaks, which I won, you had maybe 10 or 12 entrants and you really had only two shots at winning which were Another Affair and Above and Beyond. Those two horses came first and second and I think maybe seven of nine lengths behind was the third-place horse. So, I think what they are looking for is competitive racing and I think right now if you have the Oaks at 8 ½ furlong compared to a 10 furlong, you are going to have more entrants and more horses with a chance of winning. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, I think maybe it should be given a try and see how it is moving forward because nothing is written in stone.
Richard Azan — The Oaks and Governor’s Cup at 10 furlongs have tradition behind it. If they change the distance, I don’t know which one is going to work out better, but traditionally the Oaks is run 10 furlongs and this is before I was born. It has to settle in before we can accept, and I don’t know what is in the promoters’ minds so they probably should be asked why they changed to 8 ½ furlongs.
Gary Griffiths —It should never change. This is a long-standing race, so it should never change because a Classic race is a Classic race and when you reduce the Oaks to 8 ½ it is almost the exact thing as the Guineas, which is 8 furlongs, so I don’t see it making any sense. I am very disappointed because it is like they are changing everything without consulting us. The two Classic races (Oaks and Guineas) races cannot be the same journey as that makes no sense and then there is no dialogue. It is like they are communists; they just change anything they want without us knowing. It makes no sense.
Wayne DaCosta — I think it is a retrograde step to change Classic race distances, this is something that has been here with us for a long time and you arbitrarily get up and decide that you are going to change because it feels like you are going to get more support going a shorter distance. What we need is more horses, not shorter distances, so, as soon as, the promoters realise that the problem is that we don’t have enough horses then they will try and address the problem. They have the numbers, they know what the situation is, plus the fillies usually point from the Oaks to the Derby and the Derby is a two-turn race and they now have no two-turn race for the fillies so I don’t see how that is beneficial. I am totally against this move and the way it was done.
Ryan Darby — I have heard of the changes in timeline of the races and the format meaning the 12-furlong Derby being the last race which we did last year and that maybe okay and most of us probably would work with that but if we are going to change distances and stuff like that for a Classic race, I think we need to have some serious discussion and consultation and come to some agreement. We can’t just have this push to change the distance, so I expect we will have some dialogue and consultation and then we move forward. I can’t be just sending out something and expect that will be the way because a Classic race is a Classic race and I expect that a lot of thought and consultation would be put in it to adjust the journey.
Steven Todd — I don’t think that the reduction should have been done to change a Classic race as such is the tradition. I think we should always maintain that tradition because it is going to be difficult now to compare horses of the present time to those of the past. A reduction in journey may make it easier for some of the horses, but I think it waters down the race a little, but if it’s needed for racing to be better, then I am all for it.
