Here's an exmple of the rich hijacking the breeding industry.

[twindouble]

From the DRF.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - If anyone ever doubted how much money is available for a good mare in today's Thoroughbred market, he surely got the message at Keeneland's November sale on Monday. Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's final bid of $9 million for champion Ashado constituted a world record for a broodmare or broodmare prospect, easily toppling the previous $7.1 million record for Cash Run,

What do you think they would pay for a horse that can really run?

[Pace Cap'n]

Forty to sixty million.

[andicap]

And you guys wonder why they were running 6 horse fields at Belmont? If the best foals are going overseas where are the horses going to come from?

Maybe we ought to work on cloning t-breds. :D

[toetoe]

I forgot about $7 million for Cash Run.

[highnote]

The sheiks are like the NY Yankees. If you're going to compete you need to be like the Oakland A's.

[garyoz]

Personally, I'm glad that the breeding industry has a source for capital. Let the "rich" spend money how they choose. The cause of small fields is the economics of racing in the U.S. Few owners make money. Goes back to the changes in the tax code (1986-I think). If there was a demand for more horses, supply would certainly catch-up. There are plenty of mares available to breed. Can't blame foreign investors for the state of racing in the U.S.

[twindouble]

Personally, I'm glad that the breeding industry has a source for capital. Let the "rich" spend money how they choose. The cause of small fields is the economics of racing in the U.S. Few owners make money. Goes back to the changes in the tax code (1986-I think). If there was a demand for more horses, supply would certainly catch-up. There are plenty of mares available to breed. Can't blame foreign investors for the state of racing in the U.S.

Come on gary think about it, if a very small minority of people can snatch up the best seed of the crop because they have the bucks to do it, what the heck will you be planting? The quality of American horses will continue to go down and the small horsemen will also bail out because they can't compete with the rich on any level. This is hyper inflation in the breeding industry including the purses they are offering for graded races. The industry as a whole isn't keeping up with that inflation, utimately the small guy will be outside looking in. Then it will be just a sport of the kings. How can the owners make money when they are running for puny purces by comparison, if it wasn't for slots more tracks would go by the wayside along with those owners and trainers. Land is also at a premium, I looked at a few farms last year, couldn't touch anything for less than a $800,000 that had enough land to stable horses. Not in New York anyway, talk about taxes and overhead. :faint:

[ponypro]

The sad reality is, you helped buy Ashado with 3 Buck Gas!