Standings In Horse Racing

It’s that time of year again where I like to point out that the standings in this sport are possible, and would be helpful.  The TBA has been compiling standings for 8 years, and in that time our standings have more often than not had the 3 Eclipse finalists and have had the winner on top.  All this while I admit our standings are not perfect.   Our standings are a hypothesis that some form of cumulative points in the sport are possible.  Again, I don’t claim them to be perfect; I just claim that they show standings are possible vehicle to frame races in a way a casual fan can easily understand, and that some tweaks made by someone *cough*AGSC*cough would greatly change the perception of our sport.   Blame, Zenyatta, Blind Luck, Gio Ponti, Big Drama, Dubai Majesty, Uncle Mo: It’s not hard to come up with those Eclipse winners after the year they had.  And every year there are a handful of horses who are obvious winners, but standings are even more useful during the course of the year, before the Breeders’ Cup.  Standings can help shape a race and show a casual fan why a race in July is important and why they should watch.   Racing is greatly lacking context for every prep race sans the Road to the Roses, and standings are an obvious solution. Win & You're In is a joke of a series, and while I once embraced it, I'm now embarrassed by it.  Gr II winnners, winners from every continent, yet nothing to help contextualize the races here in America.  Why the hostility to standings? If you ask me it's $$$.  By putting an actual number next to all these horses names on the catalogue page it'll become harder to sell studs w/ 5 race careers and 1 big win.  But that's just me. Happy New Year everyone.