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Originally Posted by Merlinsky
What do you guys think about the remarks on Castellano allowing Bernardini to learn bad habits and be unprepared to hook up with Invasor?
I just happen to think losing Dubai Millennium (Golden Goose #1) had an impact here. He was the great hope and if they don't want Bern and Discreet Cat to meet and DC's going to the big races then they really have a rock and a hard place situation here. Rather than ducking each other or beating each other they decide not to risk the horse (yes it sucks for fans). Invasor's gonna be running as is DC so it's not like they retire everything. I think we all knew Henny Hughes was just racing til they figured out when to retire him--he was a stallion prospect from the beginning and the remaining days were numbered. Bern's well-bred and accomplished and they'd probably like to have AP Indy's successor. They want a homebred Derby winner even if odds are slim to none for anybody even if they have money. I just see how it can be both about money and about breeding the animal themselves by Golden Goose #2. I don't like it as a racing fan but I guess I can see why they did it. Does a G1 win at 4 really make him any better a prospect at stud? They know he's talented and they know he's well bred. He can't run in the Derby so his value on the track is now limited to setting up his sons later by getting good mares. Is there really a top mare that's not gonna go to him because he didn't race at 4? I think he's as viable a prospect as he's gonna be in terms of filling his book at the beginning w/top mares and it's not like it's gonna help him in his all important 3rd crop year. Winning the Dubai World Cup would kick him out of a good chunk of the breeding season and I don't see them blowing the whole year--they had a horse die of freakish illness in grass sickness so they're gun shy.
Now question about Secretariat. I know he had 2 big seasons right so it's not the same as a horse doing like Bernardini and retiring at 3 after roughly half a year of performances. Is the argument that it's ok to retire him at 3 that he's pretty much proven on his typical day that he could chew em up and spit em out therefore running at four is a risk that sportsmanship concerns can't outweigh? Because we saw Seattle Slew, Affirmed, and the Bid all go beyond that even with 2yo campaigns and TC or near TC victories. We get mad with horses like Smarty or Point Given (even though Smarty supposedly had bone bruises that turned into something worse, allegedly) so seems like there's a threshold where it's a little more ok to retire some horses early than others. I'm just asking if you think that's true and just your thoughts on what I've tried to throw out there. Not saying I feel one way or the other. This is an interesting discussion we've got going so I was curious about looking at it this way.
I tried to include reasons it's a different situation from Bernardini but show that other horses in a position of greatness ran on post-3 even with 2yo seasons of note. Now just for a lil present I found this shot of Secretariat on a workout and lemme just say d*mn. http://championsgallery.com/secretariat/fi/0000001b.htm |
secretariat was retired due to inheritance tax more than anything. he 'saved the farm' basically, much like round table before him for his farm, and sunday silence for arthur hanc-ock.