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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In the first half of the last century, it was common for horses to race until they were 4/5/6 or even older. Stakes races were longer. Horses raced much more frequently. The combination favored the creation of tough distance horses, campaigners who could take a licking and keep on ticking.

As racing evolved, a couple things happened. Stud fees went through the roof, so that your horse became worth much more in the breeding shed than he was in the starting gate. Better to retire and syndicate him after a big win at 3 than to keep him racing and risk injury. The longer races gradually disappeared, because there weren’t as many quality horses who were campaigning at the “marathon” distances of 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 miles. Better to make quick money with your 2-3 yo sprinting 5 or 6 furlongs (5/8-6/8 of a mile), then send him off to meet the ladies. And if you want a horse who can produce a good race record quickly, you breed for speed, not staying power. And with that, you give up some of that old campaigning toughness in favor of quick wins. Then some of these sires become fashionable, and wind up in pedigree after pedigree. (I’m looking at you, Storm Cat.) Throw in year-round racing, without annual downtime chilling in the pasture at the owner’s farm, and you also lose the benefits of everyone’s two favorite injury vets, Dr. Green and Dr. Time. [/quote]
Thank you for this explanation.[/quote]

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