A friend of mine asked me this and I couldn't give him a definite answer. and if you think about it, let's say you 've got a good horse that is sound and can make around 1 mil a year racing or even less why not stand him for couple of months and race him the rest of the year?
Any thoughts
thanx
val
why stallions are "Retired" to stud?
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Others on this board can articulate the reasons better than I but simply a successful stallion is worth much more in the breeding shed than risking injury attempting to return him to racing for a few months every year.
The breeding season runs roughly from Feb. 1 thru the first part of June each year. It would likely, in a perfect scenario, take 90 days to get him race ready so you are looking at only a few months of racing opportunity. That's a huge risk to take for a short period of racing time.
Additionally many stallions tend to loose interest in racing after experiencing regular love session with the ladies..
The breeding season runs roughly from Feb. 1 thru the first part of June each year. It would likely, in a perfect scenario, take 90 days to get him race ready so you are looking at only a few months of racing opportunity. That's a huge risk to take for a short period of racing time.
Additionally many stallions tend to loose interest in racing after experiencing regular love session with the ladies..
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soft hearted
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valjoe wrote:thanx for the replay Zinn, makes sence. Lets say you stand them for limited time, may be 1 or 2 months and cover like 20 mares, and bring them back and if they get injured well than they get retired for good. what do you think?
If you can guarantee that the potential injury would make him retireable (is that even a word?) and still able to perform his happy duties. What if he is catastrophically injured? Or simply unable to stand to cover? That's where the real concern lays.
So he makes a million a year running. That puts him in a decent class of racing, no? So, that would also place him in a decent class for fees - and more money "jumping" than running.
As well, I suppose he might decide that chasing those tails is better than passing them
Don't forget that it takes 120 days to build up a horse's condition to race. Plus, you just wouldn't want to risk that he would run at a lower level than before, and drag down his racing stats.
And it would be a brave stallion manager that could handle a stallion in the breeding shed that was racing fit. It's bad enough when you pull them out of their 30 acre paddock. Yikes!
And it would be a brave stallion manager that could handle a stallion in the breeding shed that was racing fit. It's bad enough when you pull them out of their 30 acre paddock. Yikes!
"When I am on my deathbed, I imagine I will say, 'Thank God I did that'" - Arthur Hancock, on buying back Gato del Sol from Europe after Exceller was killed in a slaughterhouse in Sweden.
zinn21 wrote:Additionally many stallions tend to loose interest in racing after experiencing regular love session with the ladies..
hahahaha It is hard enough to keep the studly beggars from herding the field rather than running past them when all they have is their imaginations.
Also, are not many trim, fit, stallions more likely to shoot blanks? I know it is tricky to get them let down and schooled for the shed if they run too late in the fall as well.
There is no question of doing live cover and trying to race. If I book my mare to you and need to come tomorrow, I don't think my mare will be popular in the paddock or test barn trying to catch! I would be some hot if I had her covered Fri and needed to come back on Sun and you are in the fourth.
If someone was trying to stand commercially for a month or two, they are not going to successfully establish the stallion as a serious candidate. I suppose they could do their own mares, but at risk to the horse's racing desire I would suspect. People were not impressed when a stallion in our area with weanlings was getting beat in claiming races at some wee track later the next summer.
Jumping horses and dressage horses are just collected mid week since they can do A.I.
aurora wrote:Haymarket bred mares in the morning and raced in the afternoons.
This Haymarket? Out of Glorious Song by Danzig, half to Rahy and Singspiel?
1989 Haymarket (Gb),c,Danzig 1 5 0 1 1 2,918 ( 81) 0.47
IN UNITED KINGDOM 1 3 1 1 0 6,281
DP = 10-12-24-2-2 DI = 2.13 CD = 0.52 AWD = 7.00
That worked well for him didn't it?
interesting responses thanx everyone,
So I guess it all depends of who is the horse and the owner.
As long as getting out of shape I don't think that would be a problem since many farms ride their Stallions to keep them fit so if someone plans to race again can just keep jogging couple of miles a day.
All race horses need a few months vacation a year anyway, although just a few are the lucky ones...
So I guess it all depends of who is the horse and the owner.
As long as getting out of shape I don't think that would be a problem since many farms ride their Stallions to keep them fit so if someone plans to race again can just keep jogging couple of miles a day.
All race horses need a few months vacation a year anyway, although just a few are the lucky ones...
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springboro
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Back in the sixties, Carry Back stood a full season at Ocala Stud, then came back and raced half a dozen starts that fall, winning the Trenton Handicap in his final start, a turf allowance at Atlantic City, placing in the United Nations and Buckeye handicaps, and running fourth to Kelso in the Woodward. His lackluster performance in the Woodward resulted in cancellation of plans for a trip to Paris for a second attempt at the Arc de Triomphe. Following his win in the Trenton, he stood at The Stallion Station in Lexington for 5 years, then was transferred to his owner's Dorchester Farm in Florida for the rest of his stallion career.