Race To The Breeding Shed: How Retiring Three Year Olds Is Hurting Our Sport

As we enter the beginning of the 2011 Triple Crown Trail this month, we have to wonder how many of the three-year-olds we see now will still be on the track next season.

In the past few years, we’ve seen the sad trend of horses rushed off the track after only a season and a half of racing, never showing what they can do after their three-year-old season. They only run on the track so they can go run another race, the one in the breeding shed. But when multimillions are offered for a three-year-old winner, not many owners can make the decision to run the horse another year.

An example of this would be Looking at Lucky, who was sold to Coolmore for an undisclosed amount after having a successful season that earned him the Eclipse Three Year Old Male award. ‘Lucky’ was the first colt since Spectacular Bid to win the Two Year Old and Three Year Old Male awards, and would have been a contender in the older horse category this year if he had raced.

While this was a great business move for his owners, retiring the three-year-old colt when he was coming off of a great season without injury may not have been a great move for racing. However, it is a trend that is becoming more popular in this era.  Instead of bringing horses back from injuries of any kind, they are quickly shuttled off to the breeding shed where they can make money of a different kind.

Of last year’s Derby runners, only five have been confirmed to either be racing or working towards a comeback this year.  Another five horses in the 20-horse field were retired by the end of the year with the majority retired during the summer or early fall, including Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver. 

The majority of the horses in the Derby field haven’t been heard from since the Triple Crown. That means only a quarter of the field looks to make an appearance on the track this year, with at least one of those horses not seen since the summer.

While this may not seem like a big deal to the owners in the industry, after all, they are getting the big money deals by sending their horses to stud. This is a big deal to racing.  Racing is trying to survive right now and bringing in a new group of horses every year while sending the last group out is not helping. 

When a fan can only follow a horse for a year before it is retired, they quickly lose interest in the sport. In addition, having three-year-olds run at older ages doesn’t just help the sport, it also improves the horse’s resume by putting more races and potentially graded stakes wins on their record.

Keeping three-year-olds in training not only helps racing but can also help the owners get a bigger payday when they retire the horse because the horse’s resume is more impressive.

The sad trend of young horses retiring may be the trend that ruins the Sport of Kings. Without a good fan base there will be no racing and no reason to retire the horses or even breed them. Horse racing should not be a sport that races to breed, but that breeds to race.