The Last Lap.

Thursday, May. 08, 2008
The Last Lap.
By David Von Drehle
TIME

Eight Belles died on the altar of the quick buck. About that, even the most stalwart horse-racing fans can agree. Andrew Beyer, dean of America's racing writers, explained the death of the Kentucky Derby runner-up by noting that thoroughbreds are, in fact, overbred. They are no longer created with robust careers in mind; their life goal is a couple of quick wins in Triple Crown races, followed by retirement to a stud farm. "Modern commercial breeders produce horses in order to sell them, and if those horses are unsound, they become somebody else's problem," Beyer wrote for the Washington Post. "Because buyers want horses with speed, breeders have filled the thoroughbred species with the genes of fast but unsound horses."

(snip)

But it's only fair to point out that breeders aren't a solitary priesthood. They flip horses the way real estate speculators once flipped condos. With dollar signs in their eyes, they savor 2- and 3-year-old horses, exactly the way the fashion industry looks at long-stemmed 14-year-old girls, exactly the way the celebrity culture gazes on Britney and Lindsay and Miley, exactly the way shoe-company reps scrutinize boys on basketball courts. Horses, fashion models, teen stars--they're all produced for maximum profit.

Every market needs buyers as well as sellers, and that's where the rest of us come in. If horse breeders have stopped raising animals that are sound for the long run, it's because the audience for mature racehorses--like the audience for maturity in general--has vanished. Seabiscuit, over his 89-race career, drew huge crowds season after season. By contrast, this year's Derby winner, Big Brown, will command the public eye for two months at best, retiring after the Belmont Stakes in June. Provided he lives that long.


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1738503,00.html

Oh! I thought this was about the end of her campaign!


Ooops.

My bad.

my mistake

There are important issues in the world beyond the primaries, so don't let a snarky comment bother you. I've been searching for a week for some idea of how to help affect the racing industry, to pressure for better breeding and for starting the horses at a more mature age. I haven't found any solutions yet, but I'm glad to see the matter keeps getting discussed.

or so many horses start dying ON TRACKS that the "fans" see no choice, and the breeders realize they have a problem

One solution are slower horses, with far better bone structure... but that is not the pressure they will get until it builds

Me personally, I would like to see it far more regulated, but that is me

The fans, the owners, the vets, animal rights/welfare organizations, and the breeders themselves. Even those breeders who are just churning out horses to make a buck, will re-think their methods when the market for unsound horses dwindles. And I hope there are other breeders as well, those who genuinely care about the animals they're working with, and will try harder now to balance form and function and health.