It is because all these horses had their regular drivers on them. Since many of them raced the Meadowlands, WEG circuit; that precluded George N as he didn't drive at those tracks. And with all due respect to George N, are you going to go with the drivers that got you to the dance or are you going to take a chance in a $300,000+ race with someone who has never (or it has been a long time) raced for purses like this?