I’ve been locked in a conference room for the better part of two days so I haven’t been able to weigh on the Breeders’ Cup marketing revamp… but now you can with the latest poll!

As for the last poll, the majority of you were just glad to see the whole Green Monkey era come to a close and many of you thought it was a shame he was the equivalent of a child star, dogged by the press and not able to come into his own. Farewell Green Monkey… for now.

As for the Breeders’ Cup goings-ons, my esteemed colleagues covered it well…

Superfecta gets my vote for Racing Commish

Alan discusses equal billing and the problems with a two day card that starts on a Friday

Jessica shares an instant reaction that was very similar to mine + great convo in the comments

Michael has the best one liner about the Distaff rename

John laments marketing as dumbing down

And Patrick reminds us that not all steps toward growth are easy + there’s a great conversation in the comments, check it out.

Marketing is super easy to poke fun it… I do it all the time! But like most things, it’s not as easy as it looks, everyone “thinks they can do it” and it usually takes a lot of trail and error. My guess is that we’ll see these ideas tweaked along the way. I wonder what kind of market testing they did, if any. I’m happy to volunteer for that!

My personal wish list of changes:

1. Change the 2 day card to Saturday and Sunday if you want to split the Championship races across the days… some of us work! (although I’ll be taking the day off, but they already have me as a fan).

2. Change the name back to Distaff! I appreciate the sentiment of trying to equate it to the “Mens” Classic… I didn’t know what the hell a Distaff was when I first got hooked on racing, but I learned… don’t mess with tradition here.

I have a suggestion for the “programs focused on women’s health”… quick, what’s the leading cause of death of women? Heart Disease. Why not educate doctors on how to take this as seriously as they do with men. A friend of mine in her early 40s had a heart attack that probably could have been prevented if her doctor hadn’t dismissed her persistent indigestion and shooting pains in her arm (classic symptoms). If a man had presented these symptoms to his doctor he’d be on his way to the cardiac unit faster than you can say Ladies’ Classic! My point? Maybe it’s not the women who need to be educated about “women’s health issues”.

I’d actually love to see more a educational bent with a tie-in to racing. Perhaps something similar to the Women of the Backstretch luncheon as a “interested in learning about the industry?” kind of thing. And let’s not forget handicapping seminars! Unlike men, women wouldn’t be too proud to take them! Pardon, was that my sexism showing?

I leave you now with the last (at least for awhile) BC Distaff… and in this Lady’s opinion the most exciting race on the card.