Stream of Gold ignited the Twitterverse this week when Alex Brown reported the Grade 2 winner returned from a 4 1/2-month layoff to make his ten-year-old debut in a bottom-level ($3,200) claiming race at Fairmount Park.
Then Liz O'Connell hopped on a few days later after Stream of Gold ran second off the layoff and finished fourth in a $5,000 claiming race. She developed the story further, noting that Stream of Gold's younger half brother is champion Breeders' Cup winner and Japan-based stallion Conduit.
Little brother ended up out-racing his predecessor out of the stakes-winning Irish River mare River Dancer, but Stream of Gold has still done well for himself, winning five of 32 races and earning $738,021. His wins include the 2008 Mac Diarmida Handicap at Gulfstream Park, establishing a course record for 1 3/8 miles in 2:10.87. He's also placed in a pair of Grade 1 races, but it's fair to say that his best days are behind him considering he has no wins from eight starts and just $4,749 in earnings from 2009 through his two starts this start at Fairmount.
The conventional wisdom on Twitter was that a horse of his stature should not be toiling in bottom-level claiming ranks—that his $738,021 in earnings had earned him a dignified retirement.
I disagree on the basis that all horses deserve a dignified retirement.
Stories like Stream of Gold's help sell papers. "Raced at Saratoga", "Grade 2 winner", and "half brother to a champion" certainly gets more attention than "lifetime maiden" or "Nebraska-bred son of Box Buster", but should they?
It is certainly a fair complaint that racing as a whole does not do enough to ensure a dignified retirement of its competitors. But to me, the job is not done until all of its competitors have that guarantee.
We worry for Stream of Gold, and I hope those same people worry for Bruisers Background, a four-year-old filly Illinois-bred by The Bold Bruiser who most likely has no residual value as a broodmare prospect considering she is winless in seven lifetime starts, including two last-place finishes by a combined 62 lengths in her last two starts.
The vast majority of Thoroughbreds are bred to race, and I have no issue when they do. If Stream of Gold and Brusiers Background and the thousands of other horses who populate our races on a daily basis are sound and able to run, then that is certainly their owners right to participate.
To me, if you have a problem with Stream of Gold racing then Bruisers Background should bother you too.
If Stream of Gold has earned enough for retirement then how much more does a horse like Big Drama have to do? He won the Breeders' Cup Sprint and was named champion. He's clearly had some issues this spring, not having worked since winning his five-year-old debut in January, but he'll be back and most people (including me) will celebrate it.
Granted, he won't be back in a claiming race at a perceived lesser circuit, but he'll be bringing enjoyment to his connections and all those watching and wagering on that particular race, just as Stream of Gold did for Annette Ellis at Fairmount with Stream of Gold.
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Not sure I agree with the statement, "The vast majority of Thoroughbreds are bred to race." The average number of annual starts for Thoroughbreds has fallen from 11 to 6 in the past few years. Annual lifetime starts have fallen from 40 to 12!!! Too many drugs, too much inbreeding, and the stamina and durability have been drugged and bred out of the modern Thoroughbred. It is far more common for stallions to win a few key races and then be quickly thrown into the breeding barn to produce more lightly raced offspring. More accurately, I think, would be to say the modern thoroughbred is "bred to breed"!
ReplyDeleteI heard a comment on the Kentucky Derby telecast that 35,000 thoroughbreds are born each year. Can the racing industry absorb that many each year, and, if not, why the heck are so many being bred? I am the lucky owner of a fabulous thoroughbred and firmly believe they are the best horses in the world. I just don't think there are enough good homes for all of them when they retire. Mine is 27 and in great health-- that's 23 years after his racing career ended. a considerable commitment of time and money. Are there 35,000 people like me every year willing to make a lifetime commitment?
ReplyDeleteEddie, you've hit the core of ReRun's sentiment. Thank you for reminding people that earnings should not define the level of treatment a racehorse receives. They ALL deserve the same level of dignity and respect.
ReplyDeleteChristine Orman
Rerun, Inc.
So what about the ones that don't last as long as Stream of Gold. The ones that run every 10 days weather they hit the board or not only to end up going back to the barn in a horse ambulance or the dead wagon? What about those and the trainers who run them?
ReplyDeleteIn August 2006, Ray Paulick reported an estimated 25 percent of thoroughbreds "affected" by corrective surgery. FAILURE to INBREED to sound individuals, more so than medication, has thoroughbreds being bred to race in the special olympics and this is covered up by more surgery, which requires more medication, more vet bills and fewer races. A self inflicted wound for the industry.
ReplyDeleteThe horse racing industry as a whole never has and cannot now absorb all of the horses being bred commercially, and it's beyond past time that the breeders of any numbers of horses should be held responsible when that horses' raceday is over. It's truly shocking how many horses DON'T have any future except being sent to slaughter. Many of these are racing bred Thoroughbreds, however AQHA is pro-slaughter and seems that its breed is much more overbred and crams the killer trucks more often. It cannot be overlooked that any equine is liable to wind up at a local cheap auction and face the most horrific destination.
ReplyDeleteWhy does a horse that makes owners hundreds of thousands of dollars have a better chance of being rescued from such a plight? A horse that didn't have a stellar career still gave it his best and yet because there are no connections with big hearts and deep pockets there to retrieve him, he's as gone as the 30 year old foundered pony. A dollar amount earned should not calculate a horses' final destination. A retirement home or peaceful humane euthanasia is the ONLY way to go.
A racehorse doesn't necessarily earn money for each owner, and lots of racehorses have had multiple owners throughout its career. Ultimately it's the breeder the caused the horse to be born, and most likely made the initial profit (though not always), so I believe that the breeder should be the first contact when a horse is finished racing. Not an easy task, but surely a place to start. If the Jockey Club could and would initiate a fee for registering any horse, an escrow could easily be put in place for future retirement or euthanasia costs. Multiply 35k with an extra $5.00 and you've got a nice start at nearly a million bucks. This isn't brain surgery, this is simple math and business creation. Making use of more farms for retirement horses (and retraining facilities) is job creation at the grass roots, while also making a dent in the overpopulation of horses.
Lisa J
OKC
The Thorougbred racing industry has never and does not now absorb the 1000s of horses that 'retire' each year from racing. Horses in this country have raced for 100s of years. Only now from the end of the last century to now have we become only too aware of horsess plights.
ReplyDeleteInstant media uncovers the ugliness of the sport. Did anybody really know or care or realize that tens of thousands of horses are sent to slaughter each year? Does the general public realize that the US exports most of the horse meat popular in such countries as Japan, France and Belgium? And it's not just retired racehorses, people, it's an old foundered pony, young sound yearlings, former show horses, donkeys, mules, miniatures, the whole spectrum!
A horse's earnings should NEVER dictate how his life should end. The 10 year old who knocked around for eight years making a pittance is no less deserving than a 3 or 4 year old (with no breeding potential) that's made a million. It's my opinion that anyone who breeds ANY horse but especially mass produced in the racing industry, should be the first on the list of 'who to call' when it's time to retire. I don't care if they help fund the horse's remaining lifetime in pasture or foot the cost of euthanasia. It's all about dollars and cents. Or sense.
Lisa J
OKC
Because horse racing is a nationally televised sport (dressage, rodeo, jumping and cross country, reining, barrel racing etc as well) on one network or another at some point people DO realize that there are horses doing some sort of sport that often creates earnings for their owner and breeder. Because we're in the age of instant media do we now know of the horrifics of the overcrowded, inhumane, tragic and dangerous "killer auctions" and slaughter houses. It's still true that a great part of the viewing population only watches the Derby or the Triple Crown and the Breeder's Cup races. Much like the people who only attend church on Christmas and Easter. But it's a huge audience nonetheless.