Authentic Retired
 

https://www.paulickreport.com/news/b...h5HOcU.twitter

“Ultimately, we just felt there wasn’t a lot more to accomplish...”

:wf:wf:wf

I understand the monetary difference between a potential stallion and a potential broodmare. But the day after purchasing Monomoy Girl and announcing she will be back next year as a 6 year old, this announcement is very confusing. Does she have more to accomplish? She’s won 13 of 15, two Breeders Cup Distaff’s and will probably be a hall of famer.

Kinda saw this coming after he won. Too bad for racing but it's bidness as usual.

It's the Into Mischief factor. Frustrating but easy to understand.

Easy to understand that they care about money more than they care about the sport. Pretty soon there will be nothing left.

I expected it but would have at least liked to see him in the Pegasus before retiring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6mpHW3SMcc

Far out......

Underrated movie

One of my absolute favorites. Has stood up really well. Mac Davis just passed away a few weeks ago. Peter Gent was the Jim Bouton of football.

One of my absolute favorites. Has stood up really well. Mac Davis just passed away a few weeks ago. Peter Gent was the Jim Bouton of football.

If you like Jim Bouton, Bill Freehan’s book Behind the Mask is so good you won’t put it down. Him and Luis Tiant not in the Hall of Fame us just plain wrong. Pete Rose too.

money matters
 

money drives the sport
Cash any tickets then gave the money back
I love the sport but the fact a owner sold there horse for some aspect of breeding has been going on for ever.
If they did this 3 months from now very little would be said!
Thoroughbred race horses run,eat,sh-t,breed and retire
This is the Sort Sport:confused:

It was not always like it is now. Even TC winners Affirmed and Seattle Slew ran as 4-year-olds, providing the sport with exciting matchups like Slew vs Affirmed and Affirmed vs Spectacular Bid.

Affirmed ran 29 times, Slew 17 times. Authentic's 8-race career leaves no time for anyone to care.

The day before the Classic, I mentioned the race to a tennis buddy of mine. I was surprised that he took a look at the lineup beforehand, texted me he was picking Tacitus, and actually watched the race. Had Authentic continued to race, I'm guessing he would have taken notice.

When there's an almost entirely new cast every year, the chance of drawing new fans is nil. As some of the recent comments here have indicated, even hanging onto old fans is doubtful. I'm not 1/10th the fan I was 20 years ago, when the BC was by far my favorite sports event of the year.

:tro:

You are right!
 

Things aren't working the same way as in
the past
I love the sport but as a sport the game does not lend itself to a great deal of loyalty to the fans other than how to get more to bet !
I don't think you are going to get handicap horses to run past 4 unless there a gilding .
There is just to much money in breeding be it broodmares or studs!:o

What’s the point of spending all the time and money on these hosses if when you get one who can run, you don’t run them and enjoy the wins ? It was so cool to see Cigar come and win the MassCap. The fans were so happy and grateful. Riva Ridge winning the Masscap as a 4 year old got me hooked on racing. Affirmed, Seattle Slew, Spectacular Bid were heroes. Even a hoss like Fourstardave had so many loving fans it was scary. These hosses these days are gone To the breeding shed in a flash. It’s bad for the sport. We need these hosses to run. Everyone wins.

Because that post contained the word hoss so much I now side with owners who retire prematurely.

That’s how ridiculous that act is. Whatever he thinks I automatically want to take the opposite side.

I've long said that the sport was going the wrong way. The owners have paid lots of money for these horses and they have the right to do what they want to with them. That's all I ever get told. I think that having no consideration for what fans want is what's ruining the game.

This is just a thought so some of you that know much more about this can feel free to rip it to shreds but.......could there ever be some kind of rule that says you can't breed a horse until after their 4yo season? Or until after they have run 20 races?

Like this? Tiz The Law
 

About time they fired a jock who doesn’t listen to instructions.

He's a son of the game's top sire that stands for $225,000 (at the same farm) and is fully booked.

He won the Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic, an accomplishment achieved by Sunday Silence, Unbridled & American Pharoah. Curlin (Preakness) and A.P. Indy (Belmont) were similarly Classic-Classic winners.

Of course you retire him. And you don't have to apologize either.

It gives Spendthrift 4 levels of Into Mischief for breeders to approach with the big horse ($225k), Authentic ($75k) Goldencents ($15k) & Maximus Mischief ($7.5k).

I think everyone understands it’s a business decision. It’s the way business is being conducted that people have an issue with.

If I was worth a few billion I’d get more joy in watching my horses run than retiring after 8 races while totally healthy. Then again I also wouldn’t have felt the need to start something like Myracehorse to further line my pockets. Different strokes I guess.

Basically, it's a bizarre, anarchic industry with disparate participants that have uniquely personal and unusual motivations.

Indeed it is.

For me personally, if they were just more upfront about it, instead of the “there wasn’t a lot more to accomplish,” quip I wouldn’t care a bit.

Owners put on the show (with the bettors) so I understand cashing in when you can. This just seems different. Either way Hughes is an interesting guy and I encourage people to read up on him. The OJ connection not withstanding he seems like an okay guy.

My understanding is that the Jockey Club makes the rules. For example, there is the rule that a horse isn't a thoroughbred if it was the result of artificial insemination. I don't see why they couldn't impose an age requirement for the horse's sire. Breeders and owners might squawk, but it would be a level playing field and would be great for the game, IMO.

http://www.registry.jockeyclub.com/r...jcRuleBook#one

So a 2-year-old runs 3 times, wins an MDN an NW1, and a G1 with BSF of 90 100 and 110 gets hurt cant race again and now cant be bred at all or has to wait till he is 4?

It’s not perfect by any means but what is happening now doesn’t work when it comes to growth of the sport. In other sports, they have eligibility requirements. You can’t enter the NBA draft until you’re 19 or have been out of high school for a year. There are guys that could come in right away and play and that rule hurt a guy like Kevin Durant and whatever team would have wanted to draft him but it was put in place for the betterment of the game. In the NFL, you have to be at least three years removed from high school.

It doesn’t have to necessarily be wait til they are four. Smart people can get together and figure it out. But if the current way is driving people away, it makes zero sense to just continue with the status quo. Just on here, you have people that have been fans for decades talk about how they are losing interest. If you can’t keep the interest of those already in the house, how much chance is there of bringing new people in?

My loss of interest has nothing to do with horses retiring early. And don’t think horses running longer will intrigue new people.

As much as I love the sport of racing, the gambling part is what has always drawn me in. Frankly, the gambling product for the most part sucks. Small fields, races that aren’t competitive, move up trainers that perform miracles and betting a horse at 4-1 in the gate and seeing his odds change to 2-1 out of the gate are a few of the things that has me taking an extended break.

The Breeders Cup, that ridiculous track they souped up for no reason and performances like Knicks Go was the push I needed.

I’m not crazy about horses running so infrequently and retiring prematurely, but I think the only way to bring in new blood is make the gambling part as attractive as possible. It’s not very attractive right now, IMO. If it wasn’t for contests I would’ve been gone years ago. But racing should take a long look in the mirror because if someone like me is fed up, how many others are there that are as well? I eat, sleep and drink this sport.

A lot of this is the same way I feel. I don't think running them longer fixes all the issues but it's one that I think would help. In other sports, you develop a connection with the players early and you follow their careers. Just last night, I watched a high school game on ESPN featuring the top ranked junior and top ranked senior. I had never seen either play in a game but after last night, I'm following both of their careers. I think that being able to latch on to a horse is important when it comes to fans. Imagine if any new fans watched and saw the horse win the Juvenile and they heard the people saying how he's the early Derby favorite and now they have to wait four months to see him run again then he runs five or six total races next year? It's hard to keep interest doing that. Then you saw Authentic win the Classic and can't wait to see him run again only to find out it won't happen.

I remember back in 1991 watching the older horse division. They had a series of races that were connected and offered bonuses to horses that earned the most points. I'm sure some of you remember it. I thought that was fun to follow. Create some sort of Triple Crown for older horses. Create one in every division. Do something to connect the races instead of each track and each race operating independently. There are just so many ways to advance the sport but I think it starts with not breeding so many horses and not having so many races. If you create more incentives to race on and maybe more competition in the breeding shed by limiting breeding opportunities, I think you get a better product on the track and that's what drives the sport.

That's right. And that horse will still have, what, 15+ years to breed instead of 17+ years?

Unfortunately I don’t think this is a very realistic solution

Short fields or quality hoses?
 

I used to be the guy that loved the graded stakes and top tier horses that some "Boutique" tracks like Del Mar Keenland and to some extent Saratoga(though they generally have decent large field's )but now I gamble more on larger fields when i hit it hard(Derby,Breeders Cup,opening day at Del Mar accepted).
I think the most important thing is to get these tracks to run fewer races and 8+ larger fieldss:(

Ok got it. So 3 guys chip in 50 grand apiece buy two yr old in training for 150k the colt is a stud cracks a leg cant race again starts breeding at 4 just because and dies of colic at 5 and we tell the guys those are the breaks, thx for playing. Seems like a good idea if you want to prevent anyone from winning

This is another classic case of Freddy not seeing the 24-pack for the can of PBR.

Why are we worried about the stallion career of a horse who couldn't stay sound enough to make it through half of a campaign?

The purpose of imposing limits on the age of 1st year stallions would be to prevent this very type of horse from passing on his unsoundness.

Make less stakes races and put conditions on them. Right now trainers can pick their spots to run. How many times do you see a G1 horse run against 4 glorified allowance horses in a graded stakes race.

I’m laughing out loud at the first paragraph.

I guess the only issue with what you are suggesting is I’m not sure it solves anything. Let’s use the horse Freddy is talking about as an example. They bring him back for a start at the end of his 3 year old year. He gets hurt again and then they just wait out another year or so and he still goes off to stud duty.

The only real way to change this as I see it would require an overhaul of the game as we know it. Less graded stakes, lower purse money for stakes and less total races. There are too many options available. Force trainers to run their horses more.

The best racing we have seen all year was from April-June because fewer tracks were open and trainers HAD to run their horses instead of shopping around for an easy spot.

Is there anything but anecdotal evidence to support this "genetic" pass-thru of unsoundness theory? It seems like a tough IRB to prove out clinically. I get it, but at this point, they are breeding 2x3 and 3x3 with regularity. Have McClean Music's been less sound than any other stallion or any other won hit wonders? Do you really think just because Army Mule had a truncated career, his runners will be less sturdy than Hoppertunity? The mares the stallions are bred too must have some type of influence? Thank goodness my kids take after their moms or have 3 more wards of the state to feed.

Exactly. I brought up the basketball entry requirements for a reason. Yes, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant came straight from high school and had two of the greatest careers ever and if they had been forced to go to college for a year, it would have been unfair to them because it would have delayed their ability to turn pro and earn the big money. But the point of making the rule was for the overall good of the game, even though it might negatively affect some. Same with the horses. Again, nobody is saying it would be the perfect solution but an alternative that says do nothing because we can't come up with a perfect solution doesn't seem logical. I think the benefits would far outweigh the potential negatives like making people wait an extra year to breed.

I agree, most of what you note is would be more effective in improving the way the sport operates. At the same time, the breeding industry is a big driver in the way things have developed. Ignoring that side of things will keep things trending the wrong way. The age limit thing would only be effective IMO if the horse also had to run as a 4yo, not just sit on the sidelines until their universal birthday.

To be honest, I didn't really think about the thread topic too much; I just wanted to use that one liner.

...and with that, Friar Freddy Mendel smashes genetic theory into a giant lump of mushy peas.

You may return to smashing PSB cans (if there are any left) on your forehead while you await your next welfare check and the first crop of Army Mule babies to hit the track...or the layup facility (whatever the case may be)

Reduced takeout would be a good start (and consistent takeout across tracks would be nice). More cross country parlays would probably help (I assume reducing the time frame for a pick 5 from 2+ hours to 30-45 minutes would draw in some interest.) It's hard for a network to broadcast 5+ hours of horse racing in a day from a single track but is it an easier product to sell if that network only has to use up an hour to broadcast 5 races from 2-3 tracks?

I definitely don't have all the answers but I'm sure someone out there has looked into this in much greater detail than I have...and for whatever reason, it seems like the people in the industry are content to let the sport slowly fade away.

I saw this posted by someone in another place and it brought me back to this thread:

I'd like to see limits place on the number of mares that a stallion can cover by age. A 3yo stallion would be limited to 20 mares, a 4yo to 50, 5yo to 75, and then no limits on 6 and up. That way if a horse really does need to retire early at least they can provide some value as a stallion but there would be far less reason to retire a sound horse early.