Race Those Horses!

I know I have not posted to my blog in quite some time, being a busy mother of 2 girls and managing our farm and racing partnership, along with other obligations seems to eat into my free time to write.   But, after the 3 year old races this past Saturday and hearing the winner's connections comments, I can not keep my silence, as this is a big issue I see and I just have to write about it.

If I get some facts wrong, I'm sorry, feel free to correct me, as with limited time I am unable to do the research I'd really like to do in this matter.

What is my issue?  Well, honestly, not racing racehorses and coddling them before the Kentucky Derby and then expecting them to be able to handle 3 races in 5 weeks, when you've never asked them to do anything close to that before.

I don't know why this recent trend seems to be so popular.  I think it is several things, some of which is people thinking the horse is worth so much as a stallion prospect that they are afraid to race it, supposedly saving it for only the "big" races.

We did not see this trend even `15 years ago, definitely didn't see it 20 years ago and more, this seems to be a more recent phenomena.

One of the now favored for this year's Kentucky Derby, based on his recent win in the Withers, may only make 1 more start before the Kentucky Derby.   That would be 2 races in a 3 month period.   Somehow that seems, to the connections, to be too much for the horse if they race him more.   I don't get it, I'm sorry, does he have a soundness problem?   If so, I might understand, but if he's sound, for goodness sakes race him!   you know he can get hurt just as easily in the morning as in a race, right?  If that is your fear.

Years ago trainers used to not breeze horses in the morning so much, saving them for races, nowadays they breeze more than they race.   Breezing them does serve it's purpose, getting a horse into shape after a layoff or tightening them up after a few week break between races, before the next race, etc.   They used to not use them to keep a horse in shape, long gallops and two minute licks were used between races to keep conditioning and then they raced them more frequently.

This sport of horse racing complains about losing fans and I have news for you all, if you don't race horses, and people don't see them racing, it's hard to get fans to follow them, especially new fans.

Years ago the top horses used to race 8 to 10 times a year, recently, a lot of top horses maybe race 6 times a year, maybe 7, if we are lucky.   It used to be common to see horses with races spaced 2 to 3 weeks apart for a several month stretch, given a short break in summer, at some point, not taken out of training, but training backed off a little, and then brought back to race with races spaced 2 to 3 weeks apart, again, in the late summer and fall.   These days most top horses may race once a month, some trainers even spacing races out 5 to 6 weeks apart.

Breeders should also be apauled at this trend, because you can not tell if a horse is truly sound with that light of a schedule.  If we want to breed sound horses that can race more and have less of chance of breaking down, we must race the top level horses more, so we know who is truly worthy of being bred to.

Is it really no surprise that a stallion that only raced 6 times or so sires brilliance in his offspring, but they are also done racing after only 6 races?   Is that really what we want this breed to come to?

What happened to breeding horses and racing them so they make 20 or more starts in a 2 year period?   If they raced that much and were retired at the end of their 3 year old year, I would not have so much of a problem with retiring a 3 year old, but look at how many of last year's top 3 year olds are at stud this year, most of which had non-career ending issues and injuries, but connections decided there was more money in breeding, so they were retired, most with under 10 lifetime starts.  This is the next generation we need to think of, we can't keep doing this.

Now, I will caveat this, accidents do happen, injuries happen, I've experienced it as a breeder and owner and I am not saying that a horse that retires with an injury should not be bred, but other factors need to be taken into consideration.   Then unsound mares should not be bred to that stallion, especially if there is a conformation flaw present in each and they are similar in nature, it could make the issue worse.

I remember falling in love with Sunday Silence and watching him race in California several times before he headed to the Kentucky Derby, it had to be at least 3 races, the spring of his 3 year old year and the last one was probably just 3 weeks before the Kentucky Derby, the Santa Anita Derby.  That race is now 4 or 5 weeks before the Kentucky Derby.

People have this idea these days that a fresh horse going into the Kentucky Derby is a good thing, but history does not show this or prove this.   Look at all the Triple Crown Winners, the ones in the 1970's raced 2 to 3 weeks before the Kentucky Derby, and the ones from even further back sometimes raced a week or less before the Kentucky Derby.

I believe there are more factors involved with why horses are being coddled and lightly raced than what I can express in this post.  I've mentioned value of the stallion prospect as the main one, but I do believe there are more issues here.   But if this sport is to survive, bring in new fans, you must race these horses, especially if they are sound and if possible, let's see them race at 4 years old!

I do think another issue is purses for the biggest races have increased so much that people don't have to race their horse to earn money, they just need that big win or placing and that takes the place of what 2 to 3 races or more, used to bring them in earnings.

Yes, I do believe a lot of drugs have also affected the state of the breed, as well, but that is for another day.

Myself and other fans, some of us fans are also involved in the sport so do know a bit of what we are talking about, want to see these horse race and know that this is a good thing, and will only help the sport bring in more fans and also breed and produce better horses for the future.   Race those horses, please!