I admit I am a fan of racing, at least the Triple Crown races. The sport has a LOT wrong with it, but I have been hoping my whole life for a Triple Crown winner. That would be so amazing to see! I actually hoped that Big Brown would NOT win the Derby due to his bad feet, but since he won both the Derby and the Preakness, I hope he wins the Belmont too. I just hope his feet are either not a genetic problem, or he turns out not to be very fertile in the breeding shed. The racing world doesn't need his particular genes enough to have a thousands of offspring who need their hooves glued together with plastic constantly. It would be too much to hope that if his feet are that bad genetically, that breeders would be gutsy enough to only breed him to mares with excellent feet.
Oh, speaking of breeding, I was tickled to hear that he will be standing at Three Chimneys Farm, where Andolu's sire stands!
I wish somebody with a few million in the racing world would endow a race for older horses, preferably unraced ones, that was worth as much as the Triple Crown races. I am not sure why nobody has done that before, but if you can spend a few million a year on a couple prospect foals and the huge expenses of training, you can afford to set up a race with a $500,000 purse for 6-year-old maiden racehorses (for example). That would take care of SOO many problems with the race world. Breeding for early maturing, sprinting, fragile horses would start to reverse, you wouldn't need poly tracks (which I firmly believe are worse than dirt tracks) because the horses would have mature bones, you would be able to wait until a horse was fully mature to start it and so it would probably be able to race for several years and earn a lot of money before getting a bit slower and being retired SOUND, drug use would decrease due to less need, and etc. etc. All of this without changing a single law! Just imagine! I have no idea why some of the big guys haven't gotten together before to do this. There is enough money floating around out there that it would actually be quite possible for there to be several races like this - and I for one would certainly donate to help establish something like that.
I have been thinking a lot about possibly writing Barbaro's owners and Eight Belles's owners about this, and asking them if they would consider heading up an effort like this. It would be the single best way they could possibly honor their great horses' lives, in my opinion. What do you guys think? Any other ideas on who to contact, etc?
Oh, speaking of breeding, I was tickled to hear that he will be standing at Three Chimneys Farm, where Andolu's sire stands!
I wish somebody with a few million in the racing world would endow a race for older horses, preferably unraced ones, that was worth as much as the Triple Crown races. I am not sure why nobody has done that before, but if you can spend a few million a year on a couple prospect foals and the huge expenses of training, you can afford to set up a race with a $500,000 purse for 6-year-old maiden racehorses (for example). That would take care of SOO many problems with the race world. Breeding for early maturing, sprinting, fragile horses would start to reverse, you wouldn't need poly tracks (which I firmly believe are worse than dirt tracks) because the horses would have mature bones, you would be able to wait until a horse was fully mature to start it and so it would probably be able to race for several years and earn a lot of money before getting a bit slower and being retired SOUND, drug use would decrease due to less need, and etc. etc. All of this without changing a single law! Just imagine! I have no idea why some of the big guys haven't gotten together before to do this. There is enough money floating around out there that it would actually be quite possible for there to be several races like this - and I for one would certainly donate to help establish something like that.
I have been thinking a lot about possibly writing Barbaro's owners and Eight Belles's owners about this, and asking them if they would consider heading up an effort like this. It would be the single best way they could possibly honor their great horses' lives, in my opinion. What do you guys think? Any other ideas on who to contact, etc?
L
4 comments:
I would try contacting your local TV and radio stations.
Hi--
Unfortunately, it's the economics of the business that has these horses running at such a young age.
We just featured one of our friends who is a former trainer who now rescues and retrains tbs. You might be interested in reading about her at http://www.intoequus.com.
Best,
J
Hello! I know you don't know me, but I've been reading your blog for a while now and have really enjoyed it. It was recomended to me by the author of Sojourner's Song. As a fellow horse lover and thoroughbred nut, I especially enjoyed this post. I very much agree with you on those thoughts, but also think that there are many laws that need to be changed/added. No one just "does the right thing" anymore, be it for the horses or the fans. I think steroids need to be outlawed COMPLETELY, and restrictions put on the use of whips. Our other main problem is the comercial breeding industry- who's hot and who's not, regardless of their soundness for future breeding. This (I believe) can only be controlled by the Jockey Club, by putting restrictions on certain stallions and any new horses off the track should be evaluated for soundness before going to the breeding shed. Also limiting the number of mares bred, because over 35,000 new foals a year is almost (minus the few good ones)35,000 new unwanted horses a year. No rescue/retirement facilty can handle that. I think contacting the Jackson's, and Rick Porter is a very good idea. Perhaps the Jockey Club as well. Unfortunately most of the "big guns" in the industry are not going to be very much help :( The lure of money (possibly) and fame or... I really don't know what, other than that somewhere the horses seem to be getting the short end of the deal. I don't know if this was helpful or not, but it's nice to know that someone else out there shares some of the same love for horse racing that I do :)
~A
Thanks for all the comments!
Ashley, nice to "meet" you! I would agree that there needs to be a lot of change in the regulations (especially in actually enforcing them!) so that people can't get away with so much abuse. I just notice that people usually want to make new laws first, when often you can make a huge impact simply by changing the money aspect. If you changed the money part, it would be much easier to change and enforce laws, in my opinion.
Do you read the TbFriends blog? I bet you'd love it!
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