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After suffering a near-fatal injury on the Kentucky Oaks undercard, Centennial Farms' Chelokee could enter stud in 2009 at Vinery.
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And what will his fee be? And what will the advertisements look like? Anyone want to breed their mare to Chelokee? A horse who was injured more than he raced, and nearly brought it all to end on a sloppy Churchill strip. It boggles my mind what anyone would see in breeding to a horse like this. I'll take a $20k claimer who stayed for five seasons and earned $200,000 over a horse like Chelokee any time. Am I wrong?
Pat:
Depends on what you want. From my short time following the sport, it seems the breeding end is driven by wealthy hobbyists who have an egomaniacal need to see themselves in the winners circle at Churchill Downs on Derby Day. They will buy/breed horses like the poor buy lottery tickets, hoping they get lucky and end up on the Derby trail. Losing tickets are simply "discarded" in lower end claiming races or worse, and more tickets are simply bought in the future.
So, given your above scenario, which horse has a better shot of siring a Derby candidate? Of course its Chelokee by a large margin. Who will sire more frail horses? Again, Chelokee. But the business people in the breeding sheds recognize the profits to be made on buyers who desire fame over economic viability, and are only too happy to oblige with 100+ "bookings" per year, dual hemisphere seasons, etc.
Sadly, this is the REAL problem facing our sport. And these comments come from someone who would proudly root for Perfect Drift (Evening Attire, Lava Man, Silverfoot) over Big Brown in a heartbeat! --Ron
Agree Ron - you articulated what I was thinking. It is a big problem and I think breeding horses who were oft injured or sensitive does not help the breed.
Amen.