Why the Breeders' Cup could easily resemble a Ryder Cup-style affair

Like much of the nation, I spent much of the past weekend transfixed by the glorious spectacle that is the Ryder Cup.

The fantastic quality on show from both teams and the passion from the stands and on the course made for another memorable three days, if not the most competitive thanks to a flawless display from Team USA.

Golf is as individual a sport as you can get, yet its biggest event and the one which drives the most interest from spectators new and old, is a team event.

So, what can racing learn from this?

The mere mention of the word 'team' in a racing context is enough to get some observers' blood boiling, and it would be quite the understatement to say no racing team competition has yet captured the imagination like the Ryder Cup has.

Part of the success of golf's biennial showpiece can be attributed to the fact the European and American teams largely represent the best the world has to offer, and seeing them compete with and against each other in a unique format makes for an enthralling occasion.

The golfers themselves remain the biggest draw, and where racing's existing team events are let down is the fact they are not a competition between the best horses available.

The victorious USA team celebrate their Ryder Cup winCredit: Keyur Khamar

The Shergar Cup was launched in 1999 with the idea it could act as a Ryder Cup equivalent, but while the event has earned its place on the calendar, it exists as more of a sideshow than a serious event and with each race run as a handicap in order to level the playing field, it cannot play host to the finest equine talent.

The Racing League suffers from a similar problem – a series of 0-90 handicaps run on a midweek evening at an all-weather track do little to get the juices flowing – and the sponsored and overly branded individual teams failed to play into the tribalism inherent in sports fans.

That tribalism is another fundamental reason for the success of the Ryder Cup, but there was little reason given for supporters to cheer for one team or another and the jury is close to reaching a unanimous verdict on the Racing League's grand hopes of recruiting a new wave of racing fans.

But that does not mean the potential isn't there for this to happen, and given racing like all sports is continually looking for ways to attract new supporters, perhaps there is a way to feature a cross-continental battle between Europe/the rest of the world and the US which could host top-class racing and play into the tribalistic element.

Luckily, there is already an annual event handily scheduled towards the end of the year where just such competition takes place.

The Breeders' Cup already markets itself as the world championships of horseracing and it is not uncommon to see Classic and Arc winners make the trip across the Atlantic to challenge the best the US has to offer. The performances in America of Enable, Goldikova and High Chaparral among many others will live long in the memory.

With a few minor tweaks, the Breeders' Cup could easily begin to resemble a Ryder Cup-style affair, although this is not a call to drastically alter the format and the prestige of winning a race there should remain the ultimate goal. However, it would be fairly easy to create a Prestbury Cup-style side event to play up the rivalry and track the success of each side during the two days with a trophy presented to the winning team.

The annual battle between Britain and Ireland at Cheltenham is not for everyone, but it is a well-established part of the fun which helps the March festival standout and the Irish certainly enjoy lording it over their neighbours, as evidenced earlier this year. Their utter domination of the event six months ago even caused British racing to have an introspection of itself and rethink its handicapping rules.

Much more so than Cheltenham, though, the Breeders' Cup already has an inbuilt sense of 'us vs them'.

When it comes to Cheltenham, we are all already familiar with the Irish horses coming over and have often picked out our favourites months in advance. It matters not to the punter whether an Irish or British horse wins the Supreme Novices' Hurdle as long as you have backed it.

The likes of Willie Mullins, Rachael Blackmore and Honeysuckle are just as famous here as they are in Ireland because we have much the same exposure to Irish racing as we do British.

It is slightly different when it comes to the American opposition on Breeders' Cup weekend as unless you are an avid follower of Sky Sports Racing's excellent Stateside Live, much of the opposition is more of an unknown quantity and there already exists a natural inclination to cheer on the European horses with whom we are familiar.

Launching this sort of concept would probably go down easier and be more marketable in the States to begin with than it would in Europe.

The hope would be for the bombastic Americans to buy into a concept which would present them the opportunity to don the famous red white and blue and loudly roar U-S-A as they seek to assert their dominance over the best the rest of the world has to offer.

The advantage would naturally lie with the hosts on home turf – particularly on the dirt – and last year American-trained horses won five races out of five on the Friday, although the foreign raiders were not without chances with Ballydoyle duo Battleground and Mother Earth both finishing second in their respective contests.

Tarnawa strikes for the European contingent in last year's Breeders' CupCredit: Alex Evers (Eclipse Sportswire/CSM)

The travelling party fought back to sweep the four turf races on the Saturday led by the brilliance of Tarnawa and knowing such exploits could contribute to the overall challenge of overcoming a great sporting rival would only add a bit of extra spice.

I would not expect to see John Gosden and Aidan O'Brien arm in arm in coordinated outfits waving a European flag at the finishing line to the Breeders' Cup Turf quite yet, but if any team-style event is going to permeate into the wider consciousness in a way that hasn't been done before then it needs to be given the best possible foundation to build on – and what better than a global event which already features many of the sport's finest horses, jockeys and trainers.

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