The fact is that with horses making fewer starts per season, racing is just far less competitive than it once was. From the fans point of view, it's great to see good horses knocking heads over and over but those days are GONE.
I'm not sure if monetary incentives are enough because they cannot compete with the extraordinary values of colts as breeding prospects. Protection of the investment has become the watchword. When horses races 10-15 times a year, losing 5 or more times per season was not unexpected or a tragedy. Now it seems that one loss is cause for retirement to "protect the investment" from losing any more value.
The exceptions are horses like Tiznow or Albert the Great, very talented colts with moderate pedigrees for which the breeders are not screaming.
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06-20-2007, 11:26 AM
Hybrid Mode
