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Originally Posted by Zippy Chippy
Forgive me for this question, but how did it get so bad? I mean, once upon a time profits from breeding were considered "gravy" on top of all the "real profit" that horses earned through winning purses. Today, the exact opposite is true: the purse money is gravy on top of all the real profits from breeding.
Are there just too many owners now with way too much money? I mean, are there just way too many wealthy owners who can routinely throw $50K away in stud fees that is driving this market? It seems like the owners of previous generations had less money and more common sense. Very few were willing to pay exhorbitant amounts in stud fees, and it seems that very few were willing to make the mistake of paying, say, $16M for a horse. Today's free-spending owners have flooded the game in cash, and it has hurt the sport by taking the emphasis off racing. It can't be healthy for the sport when the top talents retire after their sophomore year.
How can this problem be fixed?
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maybe too many commercial breeders. not so many farms around any more that breed and race their own, that stand their own at stud...horses are commodities to be traded now. no longer looking to be sporting, but to be money makers. the wish now is not to improve the breed, to race the best you have bred to show that you know what you're doing--but to make money by selling.