Quote:
Originally Posted by MaTH716
Obviously it's not all about soundness, but my point has to do with the overall soundness of the breed. You hear talk and see threads about how horses today aren't what they were say 20 years ago. Is there a credence to this talk? Or maybe it's as easy as running your horse on some sort of consistent basis.
Possibly it's just a knee jerk reaction after seeing the probable favorite (with one of them looking like a legitimate threat for the TC) pull out the last two years and several horses this year have been scratched from races and pulled off the derby trail in all.
You would think (or at least I do), that if all this talk about the breeding weakness is true, wouldn't the issues just get worse as the years pass by?
|
Maybe, but are high profile horses getting knocked from the Derby a new phenomenon? I would guess the Derby trail has been derailing horses for more than just the last 20 years.
Just the other day, DrugS pointed out two from yesteryear in Sir Gaylord and Gen. Duke. Graustark and Buckpasser (from the same year--same rider, too) were also pretty high profile horses that didn't make it back in the day. I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg.