Interesting article

[noddub62]

I got this from the espn site. Interesting and might have some merit for us here in the states.

"We've been conditioned to believe that the modern thoroughbred is fragile and delicate and must be treated as such. The iron horse is gone in American racing, replaced by a band of coddled thoroughbreds who race five or six times a year and have to have a good six weeks between races. That's the way just about all America trainers think these days. But could they be completely wrong? Might the reason that horses run so infrequently have everything to do with the timidity of the modern trainer and little to do with the modern horse?

There are a lot of trainers and owners in Australia and New Zealand who don't seem to think there's anything amiss with the horse of today. They ask a lot of their horses and they get results. When they ran the Melbourne Cup earlier this month, five of the 22 horses in the field were coming back on three days' rest. That includes the winner, Viewed. Another six horses in the race had raced 10 days earlier.

There was nothing unusual about this year's field or the way trainers brought their horses up to the race. That's just the way they do things down there. Viewed, who is trained by Bart Cummings, raced four times, including the Melbourne Cup, over a period of 45 days. Any American trainer who tried that with a top horse would be dismissed as a nut. In Australia, they think Cummings is a genius.

Each of the last eight Melbourne Cup winners raced with 18 days of the race itself. The main prep for the race, the Caulfied Cup, was run this year 16 days before the Melbourne Cup itself.

"The horses are here to race," said Australian trainer Sheila Laxon, who won the 2001 Melbourne Cup with Ethereal, who was raced 17 days prior to the Melbourne Cup. "We might as well race them."

It's easy to blame breeding for why American horses race so infrequently, but the typical Australian racehorse and the typical American racehorse aren't that different anymore. With racing having become such a global sport and with so many stallions spending the off-season being bred in the Southern Hemisphere, there is an awful lot of American blood in the typical Australian racehorse.

Media Puzzle, the 2002 Melbourne Cup winner, was bred in Kentucky and is by Theatrical. Ethereal is by the American-bred, American-raced Rhythm.

Laxon, who is from Great Britain, believes the reason her horses seem to be so durable is because they are not confined to stalls for most of the day. Instead, they spend their days in a paddock. In America, the typical horse spends about 23 hours a day in its stall, doing absolutely nothing.

"I would imagine in America it is like it is in England, where they are kept in boxes all the time," she said. "They don't develop the density in their bone because they are standing still so much. To have them out in the paddocks when they are growing up, they get nutrition, they're in the sunlight and they do a lot of exercise naturally. So, they build up lot stronger bones and bigger feet. I train my horses out of paddocks because I believe horses are bred to be outdoors. They naturally have to walk around a lot to keep their bones in the best condition they possibly can. To keep them in boxes and then do the fast exercise they do in between causes a lot of weakness in them."

Trainer Lee Freedman won the 1995 Melbourne Cup with Doriemus, who prepped in the Caulfied Cup, 16 days before the big event. His racing manager Sam Pritchard-Gordon, who has worked in the U.S. and English racing industries, believes that Australian horses are the toughest and most durable in the world, and he thinks the way they are raised is the reason why.

"The Australian horse is reared and reared in the same sense you would rear cattle," he said. "They run in herds and are fed and treated accordingly. You get a tougher horse as a result. Horses are foaled in Australia when it's 15 to 20 degrees (Celsius) outside, rather than minus 5 (Celsius) in Kentucky or on a cold, wet day in England. They are foaled outside and from the day they can stand and run with their mothers they are in a paddock with 10 other broodmares and their foals. The first time the foal is handled is when it is weaned, six months later. There is no need to bring them into a box and mollycoddle them. There is too much emphasis on looking after these horses when they are younger."

Doriemus wasn't fragile. He started 44 times. That doesn't happen anymore in America. Don't blame the horse."

[Bill V.]

Hi Bud

Thank You

I have only seen the backstretch at Monmouth and Meadowlands

It sure does not look llike a healthy happy place for the horses
Thanks for the article

Bill