A lot of things have hurt this race especially...
* Dubai World Cup (first edition '96)
* The breed as a whole becoming more precocious and having a lot less stamina and durability. Few good horses really want to go 10fs unless the pace is a crawl.
* The fall off in Southern California horse racing (In the 90's - racing was unquestionably better on the So. Cal circuit than anywhere else.)
* The addition of synthetic race tracks more recently.
At least the last reason is gone.
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