General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We’re Breeding Dogs to Death [View all]bklyncowgirl
(7,960 posts)In the old days breeders bred horses that they intended to race themselves. The emphasis was on durability as well as speed. Today most breeders breed for the sales ring. They will spend enormous sums of money to breed to fashionably bred colts who were brilliant and speedy as two year olds but who went lame and were retired before they turned four. The colts are exercised on treadmills, shot up with steroids and subjected to corrective surgery in order to get that perfect sales ring look. The goal is a beautiful colt who will bring six or even seven figures at the yearling sales.
A less fashionably bred racehorse will simply not be as valuable at stud no matter what he's done on the track.
For example, Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah's breeding rights were just sold for 20 million despite the fact that he has to run in a special shoe to protect his tender feet and his sire and grandsire were both retired at three with unspecified ailments--mind you if he wins the Triple Crown, Coolmore, the breeding corporation who bought him, will have gotten a bargain. On the other hand California Chrome, a cheaply bred horse, who won 2/3rds of the Triple Crown last year would be lucky to get half that, despite being fast, durable and versatile. He was cheaply bred from a local stallion and his owners' failed race mare. Right now he is training in England in the hope that a win at Royal Ascot will spark interest from foreign breeders who have in recent years been shunning American horses since many of them are unable to run without Lasix and other drugs. Bottom line, he is just not valuable as a commercial stud.
This emphasis on the sales ring is doing great damage to the Thoroughbred breed just as emphasis on the show ring is damaging dogs.