What a sad coincidence

[Ex RubyLight]

Tom’s article

https://www.racingpost.com/news/opinion/comment/the-commonwealth-cup-was-never-needed-and-its-impacting-on-the-breed-aDPIE5y3bZRe/

and the four Saratoga-like fatalities today.

For the ones not willing to read the entire article here are the two parts that stand out the most for me:

“Much more importantly, though, I firmly believe the advent of a race for Group 1 three-year-old sprinters in June has had a drastic impact on the quality of horses being bred in this country, with the have-now brigade aiming moderately bred horses who end up becoming stallions at the Royal Ascot prize and ultimately weakening the gene pool of the thoroughbred.”

and also:

“Surely everyone would agree that it can’t be good for the breed that the brilliant Derby and Arc winner Golden Horn is now a jumps sire, despite a promising start as a Flat stallion, while there are hundreds of two-year-olds running by horses who wouldn’t be fit to lace his boots. Of course, commercial factors come into play and I get that there is a diminishing market for slow-developing horses. That would be fine if we were breeding fast horses who were the envy of world, but it seems that we are breeding moderate sprinters while slowly dismantling the quality of the horses who stay middle-distances.”

May they all rest in peace

[Cork All Star]

Thanks for the link Ruby. I fully agree with Tom Seagal but – as he readily acknowledges – I am doubtful anything is going to change.

[Father_Jack]

All 4 died at all weather meetings that we didn’t really need to have today.

[FinalFurlong91]

Fragile horses like calyx and too darn hot etc really shouldn’t be going to stud

But the breeders want precocious horses that they can sell on for big price tags

Not slow burners who stay middle distance

Though those horses only end up getting sold to Australia anyway

A sorry state of affairs

Iv Saif it before but poetic flare with his legs of iron gets sold to stand in Japan meanwhile the glass legged horses stay here at stud

Which means the watering will get worse and it will become a viscous cycle

The firm ground horses won’t win top races because they will very rarely get their ground and won’t go to stud

[Author]

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