Algorithms, Creative Cause both retire

[OldDog]

This was in DRF a few weeks ago

http://www.drf.com/news/injuries-tak...year-old-stars

Research into a decade’s worth of Triple Crown hopefuls and competitors shows that this crop actually has not lost a radically high number of horses before autumn. But the fact that nearly all the class’s most talented horses have fallen has invigorated discussion about the sturdiness of the modern Thoroughbred and the toll caused by the Triple Crown season.

Though not by an extreme amount, the rate of 3-year-old attrition in 2012 is on pace to be the highest in at least a decade, and the temptation is to fit the situation into what has become a common racing narrative – the demise of the Thoroughbred. Horses aren’t as tough as they used to be, this line of thinking goes. Drugs have weakened the breed. But it’s hard to pin the 2012 burnout rate on any one factor, and statistics from the last decade don’t even strongly support the idea that this is anything more than an especially unfortunate year.