Horse Racing's Greed and lack of focus will lead to failure

[bdw0617]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06042007/sp ... htm?page=1

One of the most prominent owners in the business told us a few years ago: "Without stars, racing will die. Every sport you can think of is kept in business by its stars. No stars, no business."

and

Therein lies the problem: The breeders have the racing game by the throat. The racetrack is just a staging ground for them. But if they keep it up, their greed just might breed themselves out of business.

No stars, no business.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Horse racing has a problem in the sense that there is no direct leadership. the NTRA is a joke. if you let everyone fend for themselves,they will always look out for their current best interests, not their long term interests.

Horse Racing survives by putting a product people want to see on a constant basis out to the track. Taking the games best product out before they are even 4 (and in some cases, before they are actually 3) is not how to ensure longterm success.

The dynamics of horse racing, the way it's setup, is not fair, and it doesn' tmake sense. I would recommend two simple rules that would change horse racing for ages.. 1) A horse must have at least 15 career starts to be considered for stud duty and 2) A horse cannot enter stud duty until he is at least 5 years of age. This kills 2 birds with one stone. This kills two birds with one stone. First of all, a lot of the unsoundness issues we have over time will work themselves out. People will get to actually see what a tud could do on the track, and last of all.... you get to see the stars

I would personally like the rule they have over in the UK.. if you have been under any drugs you can't go to stud. . but that's a stretch if there ever was one.



I think the Dubai world cup has kept some horses out of retirement (6 million dollars). I think they should write a race in america, not necessarly the BC... a race worth alot of money, for horses 5 years old and up. Enough to where it would make sense for a good older horse to try to win.

[ratherrapid]

bd, the article and maybe your post is imo opinion an overreaction. there have been to my memory very few horses deliberately retired at 3 unless they were injured. when do you think the first derby prospect by street sense or hard spun will hit the track? darley is playing a shell game which they'll figure out soon enough. additionally, because these two old owners sold out presumes that other owners will do so.

personally i doubt the 83 year old gentleman sold out for money. perhaps he's just tired and wants to get out. I disagree with your proposed rules. The one attraction of the game for owners is that it's your horse. some will run for the sport, others for money. it's always been that way.

[bdw0617]

It's not necessarly good 3 YO's.. it's 3 YO's that actually have the attirtubes to capture the attention span of america.. that's what the article is getting at.




Smarty Jones
Afleet Alex (injured)
Bernerdini
Henny Hughes
Bluegrass Cat
Sweet Catomine

i can go on but you get the point. more importantly however.... last year no one got the chance to make the decision with Barboro. The only othe rhorse in his class was Bernerdini and you saw what happened to him. We never got a chance to see just how good he is. Giacomo, the longest price winner to ever hit the derby (I think) and hasn't won anything worthwile since had virtually no stud value, so you can throw that out

There are only 2-3 horses if that per year that are THAT good. This year there are 3. Hard spun, street sense and cc urlin. No one gives a crap ift hey wisk I'mawildandcrazyguy off to stud.. I mean I like as many good horses as I can get, but still.
If funny cide had any balls, he wouldn't have seen a day past the belmont.

Look at Fu Peg

[bdw0617]

personally i doubt the 83 year old gentleman sold out for money. perhaps he's just tired and wants to get out. I disagree with your proposed rules. The one attraction of the game for owners is that it's your horse. some will run for the sport, others for money. it's always been that way.

but if you run for money to the point where you don't race your horse, there will eventually be no money to run for.

It's like owning an NBA team. you can own one like the clippers owner (for money) or one like the mavericks owne r(for the love of the game). However, eventually it has to be a little of both. If you suck every year, and never put an effort to put a worthwhile team on the court, you won't have any fans, which means you want have any money because fans generate money. Sterling was so cheap they had to impliment a league mimimum salary cap

[ratherrapid]

that was the point.

smarty jones,
afleet alex
henny hughes
sweet catomine

instead of being taken off the track they were all injured. every one. that's the way it's been in the last 20 years. injury after injury.

[Monmouth Matt]

I agree that it is disappointing to see the "big horses" retire to the breeding shed so early. It's been awhile since the fan has been able to follow and cheer for a horse for an extended period of time. That is what hooks the fan base...watching great horses race!
There are many reasons why track attendance is so far down vs. the heyday of the sport, but the lack of "great " horses running in the weekend handicap stakes (4yrs +) is certainly one of them. This is not a knock on those entered in the current races, just a wish to see who of the great 3 year olds could measure up to the greats of the past. Over the past few years, I would have loved to go watch FuPeg,Point Given,Afleet Alex, Smarty Jones, Bernardini continue thier careers a bit longer and run thru at least their 4 yr old year. The breeding game dominates the sport today, and I'm sure I'd be looking at figures if I had a red hot 3 yr. old and Darley was calling with a $30mm offer!

What's wrong with an extra year like one of my faves...Lemon Drop Kid!

[zinn21]

Certainly a star racehorse is a plus for our game but the bottom line is that this a wager driven business.

High profile names will pull in the interested fringe, helping to grow the customer base, but it is a good sound animal raced fairly that will bring the people to the betting windows.

[CA Michael]

bdw,

While I agree with your conclusion, I don't necessarily agree that your two simple rules would cure our ills. Until and unless we become a (completely) socialized economy, market conditions will continue to dictate early "star" retirements to most owners.

Actually, early retirements of superstarts is not all that new. From MAN O' WAR to DR. FAGER to SECRETARIAT to WAJIMA to 'SLEW, AFFIRMED and 'BID, SUNDAY SILENCE, UNBRIDLED and A.P. INDY, most well bred champions are whisked off to stud long before they are 5yo. Only CIGAR and SKIP AWAY are the handful of top racehorses who have raced past the age of 4--and only because their breeding did not send tidal wives through the breeding industry.

More to the point, I think the #1 problem within our industry is LACK OF LEADERSHIP. In spite of the plethora of billionaires and gazillionaires who participate in horse racing, very few of them have staked their personal fortunes behind its remediation. How very different from decades past when individuals financed major political campaigns which later delivered renewed racing opportunities. New York racetracks were built at the hands of a small group of wealthy industrialists. Lots of today's super rich enjoy talking about our problems but none of them back their beliefs with more than token contributions.

The Sport of Kings has been abandoned by its royalty.

[zinn21]

Let me also add that the latest business model, the "Racino," is a key factor for the future economic health of the industry.

[geowarrior]

Just as an aside, I think a lot of people would be interested if they whisked Imawildandcrazyguy to stud as he is a gelding.

[bdw0617]

Let me also add that the latest business model, the "Racino," is a key factor for the future economic health of the industry.

I think it should be done.. I don't like it... it never should have came to this.

I can live with a horse like say... Invasor getting taken to stud LAST year... you give us 3 solid top years, what more could you ask for? 2,3 an 4 years of age....

I welecome the Racino simply because of Dumb money at the track.. and dumb money is always good money

[bdw0617]

Just as an aside, I think a lot of people would be interested if they whisked Imawildandcrazyguy to stud as he is a gelding.

Is he? lol, didn't know that. But youg et the point... Say a Sedgefield (who I think will make a pretty good Stud BTW)

[FOS]

hi bdw0617...hi all

Therein lies the problem: The breeders have the racing game by the throat. The racetrack is just a staging ground for them. But if they keep it up, their greed just might breed themselves out of business."

It's very easy to play the blame game, as Kerrison seems to be doing...but I would suggest that the thoroughbred game (in general) can be VERY tough, risky, demanding (financially and otherwise) and unforgiving etc...

...so when someone has the opportunity to cash in and/or maybe hit the mother lode...and chooses to do so, why lay blame on the breeders?

In response to (what I perceive as) his blanket indictment of breeders, I might offer that competition for TOP stallion prospects/stallions is fierce, and if stallion facilities want to take their best shot to lure, to their breeding sheds, racehorses that appeal to them as stallion prospects...so be it.

I'm not saying that I like it when horses that have captured the attention/imagination of fans, are retired (especially when they're young and sound and could continue to perform at a very high level)...but for Kerrison to blame the breeders for that (in general) sounds to me (at least on some level and/or to some extent) misguided (for lack of a better word).

If anyone chooses (including Kerrison) to point fingers...it might be wise to remember that no one forced the owners of the racehorses (referenced in the article) to make the deals they did.

Respectfully

[ratherrapid]

would someone post a list of top three year old colts that have been retired sound. this might indicate the "magnitude" of the problem referred to by the first post.

leadership???
agreed. where is the NTRA????

[bdw0617]

I'm a HUGE Japanese racing fan. The NTRA could learn a thing (or 10) from the JRA