Is Australian racing at the mercy of the breeding barn?
THERE were talks prior to the Magic Millions that Winning Rupert could be up for sale, but despite the colt suffering its first career defeat in the Gold Coast feature, the offer could still be on the table.
The son of Written Tycoon required surgery to remove a bone chip in its fore knee, which could have explained its defeat as the $1.50 favourite, but trainer Bjorn Baker said negotiations were underway between the owners and a stud.
“It’s under negotiation at the moment and I guess after the operation the owners are weighing it up,” Baker said.
That reignited the debate which continued to divide many of the industries participants – is Australian racing at the mercy of the breeding barn?
Many of Australia’s top colts are being sold off to stud during their three-year-old season and there’s no doubting that our racing product is suffering because of it, but the counterargument is that breeding from these stars adds more depth to racing.
There’s certainly a case to be made from both sides of the spectrum and we live in a world where money talks, but just what effect is it having on the industry?
Where did all the talent go?
It’s easy to get excited about a promising colt which looks to have a future at the Group one level, but most punters know that enjoyment won’t last long.
Whenever a talented juvenile colt wins a black type race, they’re already being touted for upcoming stud careers. The likes of All Too Hard, Pierro and It’s A Dundeel spring to mind in recent times and although all three horses could have won multiple Group one races, a stud career is simply more valuable to its connections.
We’re not doubting that being offered millions to take your horse off the track isn’t a smart decision, because it is, but it’s not immediately beneficial to the Australian racing industry.
Horses like It’s A Dundeel attracted big interest with punters and on-course patrons, but what happens when you take away the talent? People stop coming to the races and we are forced to wait for the next three-year-old star which will inevitably be taken away from our viewing pleasure.
Coupled with the threat of being sold to Hong Kong, Australian racing is under fire of losing its star appeal. We have been fortunate to have champion mares grace our tracks over the last 20 years which includes Sunline, Makybe Diva and Black Caviar, but imagine the impact had any of those three horses been colts.
Sunline wouldn’t have won 13 Group ones, Makybe Diva wouldn’t have won three consecutive Melbourne Cups and Black Caviar would have been retired after its first injury scare as a three-year-old.
It’s all ‘what if’s’ now, but we can only imagine what the careers of Pierro, All Too Hard and It’s A Dundeel would have looked like had they continued to race.
We’ll likely never see Winning Rupert on the racetrack ever again. We’ll see its progeny, but that blistering speed is what was attracting the attention and the crowds to the races.
Unfortunately the money is with the big breeding stables and Australian racing simply can’t match the offer.
Breeding is needed for racing to survive
Taking away the promising colts from the track is not great for the visual aspect of horse racing, but it is pivotal to keeping Australian racing on the world scene.
Stallions such as Savabeel, Sebring and Exceed And Excel were all reduced to limited careers, but their impact on the Australian racing industry has been immense.
Sebring sired 130 winners from 265 starters in the 2016 season, so without Sebring heading to stud after only a handful of wins we wouldn’t have seen the likes of Criterion grace our racetracks.
The same case can be made for Savabeel which had only 14 starts and never looked like a stud prospect, until it won the 2004 Cox Plate. The son of Zabeel still had more to offer on the track, but we can only speculate as to what would have happened.
What we do know is that Savabeel has had a successful stallion career whose progeny includes multiple Group one-winner Lucia Valentina.
The promising colts which get taken off our tracks often succeed at stud, which in turn creates more horses and can only be seen as a positive for the industry.
There’s also a lot of money at stake and the risk of racing your prized possession is too much to risk. Studs offer big money to the talented colts, money that easily surpasses stake money on offer if it was to continue racing.
Sure, connections would love to see their horses continue to win and excite punters, but locking in a stud deal is the more lucrative and safer option.
While we may be disappointed when our favourite horses head off the stud, it’s for the greater good and there will always be new horse on the scene to capture everyone’s imagination.