A possible solution to the "Eight Belles" problem in horse racing

If two top runners died at the last couple olympics, people might rethink the sport. Of course, if they just broke their legs and were shot in the head on the track, running might be semi-watchable.

 

It's probably worth another thread all of its own, but human records in most track and field events are stagnating too. In most events, if you graph the progression of world records, you get a flattening bell curve. The NEWEST field-event record was set in August 1995.

 

Don't all thoroughbreds supposedly trace their bloodline back to the Godolphin Stallion in some way or another? If that's the case, inbreeding has to occur somewhere in there.

 

Most of today's top 'breds come from the Native Dancer line. He raced as a three-year-old in '53. So, you don't have go back that far.

 

One died at the Olympic marathon trials.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3092889

 

BTW, the Humane Society is also calling for some of the changes that have been mentioned here, such as an age limit and breeding for sturdier horses.


http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/statement_on_kentucky_derby_death_050508.html


http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2008/05/horse-racing.html

 

I have heard a couple of horse racing people suggest that Triple Crown events should be for four-year-old horses because it would provide a better caliber of racing and a better test.

 

Why not just race on grass?

Horses don't grow up on dirt. Race 'em on turf. Real turf. Nice, soft grass.

Maybe it's not as fast, I dunno. But who cares?

 

According to Randy Moss on ESPN, the US is the only country that allows race day medications. That's what leads to stuff like Barbaro. These horses are so jacked up on PEDs (and high strung to start with) they don't know when they're injured. The next thing you know one of them will be throwing a broken bat at another.

Moss also mentioned breeding practices that have resulted in more fragile horses, so I guess we're on to something.

 

The reason there are no drugs in racing anywhere else in the world? Because there's a chance those horses might be sent to slaughter and people don't want steroid-riddled food on their table. They can go to KFC for that.

And the 4-year-old thing, a good idea, but this isn't a sport that takes kindly to good ideas. The sooner they can get them on the track, the sooner they can get the champions off the track and into the breeding shed. That's where the money is these days. The tail is wagging the dog, er, horse now.

If Big Brown wins the TC, he'll be getting laid in the middle of the trophy presentation. Larry Jones said last week that Hard Spun (2nd in last year's Derby) was expected to have 350-400 breeding sessions this year. At 50G a pop, that's a hell of a lot more than any horse will ever make in a racing career.

I think the usual will happen: almost nothing. This is a niche sport where, when nothing big is happening elsewhere, people who don't know any better start blabbering about it. We'll see how much of an outcry there is when the Breeders' Cup comes around in the fall, right in the middle of football season.

I'm not saying there isn't room for change. The sport should be changed, but the majority of the people in charge don't want to do anything about it.

 

Is Storm Cat (?) on the Native Dancer line? Because as recently as a year ago, I read or saw some TV show that he was the most sought-after stud in the biz, getting as much as $500,000 for a live foal. At two per day, that's a lot of money.

 

Good explanation in the WS Journal before the race:

http://online.wSportsJournalists.com/public/article/SB120968356843561083-tMOh6md5tsfD_6m4voaXNyFGS0M_20080601.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

How one stallion gained so much influence over the sport is a story about market forces, genetics and in some cases greed. His bloodline's greatest asset is that it consistently produces precocious, speedy thoroughbreds that dominate the Derby and other Triple Crown events -- giving owners a safer return on their investments. But that success has led breeders to mate Native Dancer's progeny so often that the thoroughbred gene pool has shrunk. And as it shrinks, another trait of the Native Dancer line is becoming more pronounced.

Like hemophilia in the Russian royal family, Native Dancer's line has a tragic flaw. Thanks in part to heavily muscled legs and a violent, herky-jerky running style, Native Dancer and his descendants have had trouble with their feet. Injuries have cut short the careers of several of his most famous kin, most notably Barbaro, a great-great-great-grandson who was injured during the Preakness Stakes and was later put to death.

Overbreeding has exacerbated the problem.