Published: November 28, 2008 10:13 am ET
Last Comment: December 1, 2008 8:49 am ET | 10 Comment(s) | Jump to Comments
There has been plenty of discussion as of late about the sport's brightest equine stars retiring to the breeding shed after three-year-old campaigns. In an excellent piece in The New York Times, Bill Finley talks to Jeff Gural, Brent MacGrath, Ray Schnittker and Dennis Dowd about the issue.
“The biggest difference between racing and every other spectator sport is the fact that our best horses, the ones the public identifies with, are all retired at the age of three," said Jeff Gural. "How do you get people to come to the track and develop fan interest when this keeps happening?"
Representative from 12 tracks met earlier this month to discuss ideas to keep the stars of the industry on track for four-year-old campaigns.
“No one wants to be out there alone on this, but I think it’s going to happen.” said Dowd, the Meadowlands’ senior vice president of Racing. “I think we can get enough tracks to do this, and if we do, breeders are going to have to say we need to take a look at racing this horse another year.”
Also, MacGrath and Schnittker had some very interesting things to say on the topic.
Click here to read Finley's article in The New York Times.
(With files from The New York Times)