OpEd : Racing to the Breeding Shed

With yesterday's press release that Pyro would be going to Darley at the end of his 2008 season (an announcement which is by no means an admission of synchronous retirement, however given their track record I'd not lay odds against the possibility), I found myself involved in a discussion wherein I needed to explain why I believe The Sheiks' current trend of "racing to the breeding shed" is one of the most detrimental repeat offenses to the sport of Thoroughbred Racing in America. For this argument, I will use the aforementioned Darley Stud and its worldwide subsidiaries as illustration.

At the end of 2007, three of this nation's top three-year-old colts: Any Given Saturday, Hard Spun, and Street Sense: were retired and hustled off to the breeding shed at Darley Jonabell in Lexington. All three were sans injury. Two had finished head of the class in the Derby. One had broken the BC Juvenile / Kentucky Derby jinx. They had a fan base that carried through from spring to fall, when they all three appeared in the Breeders' Cup, and likely would have followed into winter of 2008; but then they were gone, and for no other reason than their owner wanted to preserve their race record lest they take a hit in stud fees.

I find this practice ludicrous, and maintain that this "preemptive retirement" is a major factor in the fragility of our modern American Thoroughbred. We don't race them long enough to see their flaws, so we breed on their imperfections and then blame the track surfaces for fatal breakdowns. Alas, that is a topic for another time.

But do note that I specify "American Thoroughbreds". From what I can tell (and readers, do correct me if I am mistaken), European racing isn't suffering this affliction. The stock is heartier, racers run well into four- and five-year-old careers even as breeding stock. But of Darley's 56 stallions currently shuttling between six locations worldwide (US, UK, FR, IRE, AUS, and JPN), the retirement age numbers break down like this:

Retired @ 2 - 2
Retired @ 3 - 16 (8 US bred)
Retired @ 4 - 17 (6 US bred)
Retired @ 5 - 18 (4 US bred)
Retired @ 6 - 1

Put in this perspective, retiring a horse at three doesn't look nearly so bad: the numbers equal out to 1/3 the breeding stock. What disappoints me-- and what I aim to draw attention to here-- is the raw percentage of US-bred horses versus Euro-breds that end their careers early.

1/2 of Darley's three-year-old retirees, and nearly 1/3 of the four-year-olds, were bred here. And while I understand the paradigm Darley is following Stateside is a simple case of "playing the game" (we want the fast horses, so we race to the breeding shed), it is, on the whole, detrimental to the growth of the sport in this country. As long as they continue to throw their cash around to perpetuate the mess, we will never garner those New Viewers the NTRA is so desperate to dredge up. Generally speaking, people follow sporting events with longevity. Baseball, basketball, football (both American and Everywhere Else); these are games where players and coaches are with us for years. In it's current incarnation, horse racing, unfortunately, is not one of those sports.

The first step: Stop racing to the breeding shed. Keep the sound horses* running. It does American racing a huge disservice to retire a good race horse at 3, because doing so does nothing to improve racing as a spectator event. We get very little television coverage as is, and the casual viewer of today-- the one who only knows about the Kentucky Derby, the Triple Crown, and (possibly) the Breeders' Cup-- is fickle and lazy. They want the comfort of sports with the same names attached this year as last; can't be bothered to learn a whole new cast of characters if they can't also be involved in voting them off the island. My suggestion would be to take a page from the book of NASCAR, and shift the focus off the horses and more onto the people behind them; the owners, trainers, and jockeys (again, a topic for a later date). Telecasts have moved toward that in recent years, but the movement could be greatly assisted by more familiar names in the mix.

I recently came to terms with the fact that I do appreciate what The Sheiks' money has done to protect the greenspace in the bluegrass. But their business acumen-- their practice of throwing obscene amounts of money at it just because they can-- is doing more harm than good.


* - meaning "sound" in both the physical and mental sense, as racing a track sour horse with a superstar name only to watch him lose is depressing (re: Better Talk Now).