speed versus stamina.

​It would be stretching the truth to claim Bjorn Nielsen stoked a hornet’s nest when he lamented breeders neglect of stamina in the modern-day breeding of the thoroughbred. Speed, speed and more speed is the mantra of so many of the top studs around the world these days. In the U.S. any race over further than 1-mile 1-furlong is a stamina-stretcher. When there was a stayers race at the Breeders Cup it was run over 1-mile 5, an almost unheard-of distance over the water and most other racing countries, it has to be said. Britain and Ireland alone keep the faith when it comes to races over a long distance of ground. Bjorn Nielsen made a sensible observation; it will though go unheeded.
Peter Scargill (couldn’t be any relation to Arthur could he) in today’s Racing Post laid out his plan to incentivise breeders to look beyond breeding early two-year-olds and milers. His ideas make good sense: median auction races for horses costing less than 15,000 Guineas and the offspring of stallions that won beyond 1-mile 2; and the idea I liked best, a 1-mile 4 race for 3-year-olds, similar to the Weatherby Super Sprint, for horses that cost less than 50,000 at auction and by stallions that won over a qualifying distance. I would also suggest more, far more, maiden races for 3-year-olds over distances beyond 1-mile 4.
Such ideas should be trialled, although I think the solution needs to be more radical.
Anyone (God bless you) who has read these vanity blogs on more than a couple of occasions will be familiar with my far-out suggestion of removing the St.Leger from classic status and reviving the grand old race by elevating it so that it becomes the most valuable horse race in Britain. My idea is to retain the distance of the race, change the conditions to 3-year-olds and upwards and to bring it forward in the calendar by a week or two so that it becomes a valid alternative to the Arc. As a Group 1 race over 1-mile 6 it would be unique in the world of racing.
It only makes sense to recognise where the world of breeding is at present, even though what I am to suggest seems to go against the construct of incentivising breeders to breed for stamina: restrict the Eclipse Stakes to 3-year-olds and upgrade it to the final classic of the season.
I would also pitch for a triple crown for stayers, with the Ascot Gold Cup as the obvious centrepiece and boosting prize money to close to a million quid as is feasible. The Goodwood Cup would be an obvious choice as the second leg of the triple crown, again with a boost to prize money, with my new St.Leger as the final race in the stayers triple crown. I have, I admit, in the past advocated the Prix du Cadran as part of my triple crown, but now that I think about it the St.Leger is far more sensible suggestion.
People with little or no knowledge of the history of flat racing in this country might be surprised to discover that it once was expected that a Derby winner would be targeted the following season at the Ascot Gold Cup, it was the Arc or King George of the time, and that time spanned over a hundred-years. It is only comparatively recently that breeders and owners started to look down their noses at staying contests.
Let’s be honest: sprint-bred horses are, figuratively, the throwaway packages of the racing world. The smaller breeding enterprises breed for speed because it is easily the quickest way to make a profit. If a precocious two-year-old wins a couple of races early in the season, the mare that produced it rises in value as does the next offspring she produces. Again, let’s be honest: all Gold Cup winners of the past forty or fifty years were failures at shorter distances. Yes, Levmoss won the Arc after winning the Gold Cup but that was in 1969 – do the math. And Ardross narrowly failed to win the Arc the year after. But the point remains undented – when breeders sit down to research which stallion to send to which mare, they never think to be breeding an Ascot Gold Cup winner. Breeding an Ascot Gold winner would be deemed a positive negative.
If breeders continue to think short-term and only look for speed in their breeding, the result will be horses who do not even have the stamina for five-furlongs, let alone 2-miles further. And God-only knows, we don’t want to go down the road of 4-furlong races for two-year-olds.