The other winning streak

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by Riot

Yes. When they changed the extant American Thoroughbred bloodstock, by massive European importations. After the Depression. Maybe a little earlier. But starting with the big farms of the 1930's - 1940's, with their Euro imported stallions.

It's kind of tricky to put an exact date or year to something like that.

The foal crop in 1904 -- right before things started to get bad for racing purse money - was 3,990... and a lot of bloodstock had been imported.

40 years later -- the foal crop was just 5,650 in 1944.

It wasn't really until the 1960's when you started to see a massive production of foals.

I read a few interesting columns a while ago written by Vosburgh about the stock farms in Kentucky during the early 1920's.

He wrote in great detail about the big ones of the day such as Elmendorf Stud, Xalapa, Claibourne, Faraway, Hinata, The Nursery Stud, The Whitney and Idle Hour, Woodburn and Hartland.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

It's kind of tricky to put an exact date or year to something like that.

The foal crop in 1904 -- right before things started to get bad for racing purse money - was 3,990... and a lot of bloodstock had been imported.

40 years later -- the foal crop was just 5,650 in 1944.

It wasn't really until the 1960's when you started to see a massive production of foals.

I read a few interesting columns a while ago written by Vosburgh about the stock farms in Kentucky during the early 1920's.

He wrote in great detail about the big ones of the day such as Elmendorf Stud, Xalapa, Claibourne, Faraway, Hinata, The Nursery Stud, The Whitney and Idle Hour, Woodburn and Hartland.

Yes, you're right about the date. I do think you've narrowed it down to the end of racing in the US - it's sorta before and after that date: 1910, 1913 or so.

Don't forget two world wars had an impact on the industry, too.

You might enjoy two volumes that I think Bloodhorse released, about Thoroughbred Breeders in the early 1900's, the big farm and big owners. But it's pretty dry stuff, mostly bloodlines, stallions and mares on their farms and who they imported, who they traded with, who they bred to. But it traces those origins here.

I think you can charge much of the huge rise in foal crops in the 1960's to actions like Leslie Combs (Spendthrift) creating massive syndicates. He really put the "commercial" in horse breeding.