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Since writing my prior article on the early retirement of our best horses – “Where have all the good horses gone” – I have been ruminating over a solution.
It’s one thing to point out a problem with the current direction of the racing industry, it’s far more useful to propose a solution.
I’ve decided that the least obstructive and most effective solution is to not allow a horse to stand at stud until it turns six-years-old.
Firstly, this would compel the owners of any good horse to continue racing until they turn six as there is considerable prizemoney to be won.
It still allows a horse at least 10-15 years of stud duties and I think it’s hard to argue that that isn’t sufficient.
It also allows other attributes to be observed such as stamina and the ability to maintain form and fitness in the face of father time.
Meanwhile, the negative effects would only really be felt by a select few stud farms who would undoubtedly stay viable even after the initial shock to their bottom line.
Why?
The most important benefit and the main reason for implementing this change is to prolong horses’ careers.
As I mentioned in my previous article, we are losing far too many of our best horses too early. Ask any keen racing fan and they will tell you that there has been a distinct lack of depth in our main races for many years. Given in those same years our best juvenile horses are mostly retired before they reach open age and surely this is the direct reason.
If a horse isn’t allowed to service mares until they turn six then you are effectively demanding two extra racing seasons out of our best horses, as they are generally retired as late three-year-olds in anticipation of the spring breeding season. If an owner feels their horse is losing form and so wants to retire them early it would be at the risk of them being a forgotten entity, not to mention foregone prizemoney.
Owners of stallion prospects might argue that if their horse gets injured early then they are entitled to send them to stud, but that is just bad luck. Injury will happen from time to time and that is the risk all racehorse owners run.
This proposal also incentivises the rehabilitation of talented racers which again can only serve to strengthen the stocks of our premier race meets.
Given a horse that maintains good health can easily stand at stud until their 20s, it is not a huge sacrifice to make. The horse is missing out on only about 10 per cent of their potential services. The other factor is that there are always other stallions that can fulfill the requirements of the broodmares looking to breed each season.
At the moment the headlining stallions are booked out each year but many are not. In the last breeding season there were 587 active stallions. Seven of them serviced over 200 mares and 63 serviced over 100 mares. So 88 per cent of all stallions serviced under 100 mares. This gives a very strong indication that a large majority have more to offer if the demand is there. The conclusion being that we’re a long way off having a supply deficiency of thoroughbred stallions.
Another change that could only be of benefit is that the attributes of the stallion prospects become more exposed.
Surely we don’t only want to know the amount of speed that the stallion possessed. Stamina and the ability to maintain form and fitness throughout a career are surely favourable attributes in their own right.
When the inevitable volley of complaint comes from the stud farms who would be most affected, they must be ignored. The fact is they’re not holding any aces. They lack serious bargaining power as the end of line product that the industry has to offer is the racing, and the long term strength of the industry is reliant on the success of its racing.
I also don’t think it would have a great impact on any individual farm. The impact would be very widely spread and indeed the smaller stud farms would probably benefit in the main from a reduction in stallion supply.
Is there a good reason why this proposal wouldn’t work? There are always unintended consequences, but it seems a reasonable rule and is designed to protect racing’s greatest product, the competition of the big races.
If the administrators are indeed representing the interest of the majority of racing’s participants then they should show the courage to stand up to the big breeders and auction houses and redeem the former glory of this great sport.
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