Day 214

Had to make a tough decision today on the fate of one of the cheaper horses in the stable today. She hasn't been racing in good form and is already competing at the bottom level. Unlike so many of the bottom rung claimers, she doesn't really have many physical issues and because of that I decided that it would be in her best interest to retire prior to her developing issues. We could have easily sold her for a couple thousand dollars to someone at Penn National or Thistledowns but is a check for $1500 worth the lack of peace of mind that entering her into a highly respected retirement program brings? Despite the stable not being overflowing with cash at the present time I would be hypocritical to take the money instead of insuring a hard trying though not all that talented filly a good home. While it seems like I am taking a victory lap for a seemingly easy decision, several recent high profile cases have shown that many in this business simply don't seem to care about the fate of their horses.

On another topic, the business of horse racing is in a free fall that those in charge seem to either not care about or are simply blinded by their own self interests. As the racing and breeding world shrinks, the power and money continue to shift to the chosen few while leaving a wide swath of bodies in its wake. Here in Chicago there is a sense of real fear that there may not only be a negative announcement concerning racing dates and purses upcoming after the Arlington Million, but that next summers meet is in jeopardy as well. The politicians have not been very helpful in Illinois but from my standpoint there is no real plan in addition to adding slot machines which if allowed are a short term fix unless the other issues are addressed.

The pool of overall owners is shrinking and the few well heeled people that enter the game are whisked off to "Supertrainerland" before the ink on their first purchases' check is dry. The issues that this creates and reasons why it is bad for the sport on the whole are many. First of all it keeps the other 95% of trainers grasping for straws, often cutting deal with less than ideal owners to keep from being completely eliminated. The owners that can't or won't afford to be part of the Supertrainer posse are usually ones that come with baggage. They either want to tell the trainer what to do or they don't or won't pay the bills either in a timely fashion or at all in some cases. That leads to the vendors (vets, blacksmiths, feed man, etc,) reducing the amount of credit that they can extend, putting everyone in a bind since trainers bill on a 30 day net basis. Now the trainers are forced to put up more of their own money to cover the owners bills which leads to more broke trainers. Broke trainers become desperate ones which leads to more willing to "take an edge" to try to increase their win percentages especially so since the Supertrainers who receive positives never seem to have bad tests slow down their business. It is amazing that a sport where roughly 90% of owners lose money, most continue to hire trainers chiefly based upon win percentages despite in many cases keeping those win percentages up causes owners to lose money. The supertrainer is less willing to take a shot in a stake where a horses residual value could increase far more than the purse they are running for. Or they are willing to run a horse for a claiming purse less than a horse is worth in order to win without regard for the owner losing the horse for less than market value. Not to mention the higher day rates (basically for the same thing) and astronomical vet bills since horses in these barns are on "programs" whether they need it or not.

That is just from the owners standpoint. For the sports health these monopolies are killing the game at the highest levels. The supertrainer almost always has overlapping stakes horses in the various conditions and as such will usually choose to split them up rather than run them in the best races. When this happens in two or three barns you wind up with 5 horse grade 1 races and certain horses that deserve a chance in those races winding up running in a lesser race somewhere else so as to avoid the trainers conflict of interest. Add that to the fact that because the supertrainers now want to "space" races to the extreme, the regular trainers who don't do likewise are chastised as not being savvy enough to "campaign" stakes class runners. Believe me it is far easier to train stakes horses than any other type of horse. You can map out your plan months in advance and have viable backup options if there is an issue of some sort. Sure there is pressure to win but it pales in comparison to needing to win a race with a not so great horse in order to make payroll that week.

The truth of it is that it isn't the trainers fault that things have gotten to be like this. There were rules on the books at many tracks that were written to prevent a few trainers from dominating to the degree that they have. However these rules are either not enforced or were eliminated. The irony in the criticism of LeBron James teaming up with other NBA stars in Miami is that it is a common occurrence in horse racing as the owners flock to the same few names, choosing to join forces as opposed to trying to beat them. TVG and HRTV serve as infomercials as the same names get all the press week after week as they always have the players in the biggest races. The bastardization of the top level of the game has left the sport with no real rivalries outside of the made up Rachael Alexandra/Zenyatta rivalry which exists strictly on Internet chat rooms, not on the racetrack. Supertrainers say the right things, never take a stance on anything and are as dull as dull can be. There are no more rivalries on the track. It just isn't in the best interests of the trainers to let that happen. Better to ship to Iowa and win the grade 3 at 3/5 than take on the best competition, win or lose. Basically for the most part graded stakes quality horses embark on schedules that look like an SEC football teams non-conference schedules, ie. cupcake city!!! Why run in a tough race where you could possibly lose when you can win in style in a listed stake somewhere?

It may sound like sour grapes coming from another trainer who would be happy to take the scraps from the uber trainers but that doesn't mean that I am not 100% correct. The sad thing is that the only people that can change it won't because as always they have their own self interests at hand.

 Even if it is killing the goose that lays increasingly fewer golden eggs.