Quote:
Originally Posted by MISTERGEE
i think the difference may be that if the horse has made you lets say 1mill in purse $ and you feel he is only good enough to run for 16k. then whats the point in running? to make another 10 k in purse $. a horse like tour of the cat is a 10yo g probably every time he goes out there is a certain % he will break. so whats the use. however if you feel he is good enough to run in a stake the obvious problems that usually come with age probably havent shown as much yet. just thinking out loud.
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While not the case here, remember that older horses with high earnings probably didn't win that money for the current owners. A horse with $500k in earnings at $16k today may have won graded races long ago but the current owner may have claimed him for $30k 3 months ago, has 90 days of day rates and vet/farrier/chiro/etc into him and needs to win a race so he drops him. Is it fair that this owner (who is probably a smaller guy than the one he started with) gets stuck with the "we have to stop on him" phase of his career.
If I had earned $1m from a horse, no way would I be running him for a low tag. In fact, if he were ever claimed from me, I probably go take him back. It's not the same when all that purse money is in someone else's account.
I don't think that trainers should intentionally enter a "ready to break" horse and sadly it happens more than any of us want to see. As a bettor I have to decide if the drop is trying to pick up a purse or trying to lure some poor sap into claiming a seriously sore horse.
From a "human" standpoint I hate to think of the potential havoc a can breakdown cause in terms of human injury. As someone who likes horses, I hate to see them injured at all but especially in a catastrophic breakdown, falling to the ground and suffering a lot of pain, even if it is only for a short time. I hate to see them literally run till they kill themselves. I also hate the effect it has on the sport in general. Think of Barbaro and Eight Belles and how many people asked you how you could be involved in a game that would do that to such lovely animals.