Thoughts on Nat Champs & ROC

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

> There will never be the excitement of the ROC-type format...seeing  the
greatest horses in the sport, head to head >>without weight divisions, 
in one location!  It was worth going just to see these horses and their
riders "in the flesh". People busted their tails to get qualified  cause
it was such an honor to compete there. 

Never say never. :-)  I was a wannabe back when the ROC was around, but I
went to one as a worker and had that awe.  It will be back this year.
Will it be the same? The qualifying criteria is lowered.  

Remember when people used to run ads for horses and say "ROC" qualified" 
Was it because people wanted a horse to ride in that ride or because that
was a shortcut to saying, "This horse has completed 5 100 milers and one
of those in the top 10"?  Reminds me of Mathew's "The Way We Win"
proposal.  Was "ROC Qualified" not just another way to say: "Gold Level
Competitor" or whatever?

I argued the same point you do that the National Championship qualifying
criteria should be higher, so that just showing up would bring status
like it did for the ROC.  They said they wanted to get the numbers up
first.  Susan Gibson said she lowered the qualifying criteria for the ROC
this year because she wanted people to have time to get their horses
qualified.  Same reasoning.  Don't know how I feel about it.  

I think one reason the ROC didn't inspire the debate the NC does is that
it made no claims as to what it was the championship of.  It wasn't
"Horse of the Year" or anything.  The winner was simply the "Race Of
Champions" winner...and took home a horse trailer by the way.  If you
claim the winner of a race is the "National Champion" people
automatically start trying to figure out what "better" horses weren't
there to challenge that champion.

Was the original "Trailer Race" better?  Well...if you live in a part of
the country where you can do a race every weekend of the year I guess it
was...but it still didn't prove they were the "Best endurance horse in
the country".  How do the Flat Track people handle the fact that all
their horses don't manage to race each other?  They elect a "Horse of the
Year".  They have knowledgable people who look at the different horse's
records, times, etc. and they vote.  To me that's about the closest
you're going to get to figuring out who had the "best horse" in any given
year.  So long as you're going for head to head competition I think the
present format is as good as any.

<<<seeing the greatest horses in the sport, head to head without weight
divisions, in one location!  It was worth going >>>>just to see these
horses and theirriders "in the flesh".  

Seems to me that at least every other year the  Pan Ams has sort of
stepped into that roll.  Granted, the ROC had that quality of leaving it
an individual sport which I like, but I'm just wondering if the riders of
these top horses can get enough time off to do all the "big" rides or if
they'll have to pick and choose, thus making it less likely that they'll
ever all show up at one place.  The "New" Race Of Champions, from what I
understand will not be moving around the country...just be in the one
spot in Arizona until Susan decides otherwise.  That may give it a new
twist favoring the same type horse or horses from that part of the
country.  

I really don't know what my position is on all this.  I really like the
AERC having one "Big Daddy of All" ride per year featuring 50 & 100 mile
distances.  I'd want them to continue the practice even if they gave it a
name other than National Championship.  And by the way, I LOVED the
canvas bag I got for a rider packet...and I think that all those "extras"
that the ROC showered every entry in was part of what made it so special.

Angie & Kaboot (who'd be ROC qualified under the old rules! :-)
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