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Game Winner to Stud?
I have heard an ugly rumor that Juve victor Game Winner will be retired since with his pedigree and BC win he would already be earn more at stud than if he raced at 3 and even won the TC with it's 25 M bonus.
If true, this is a sad commentary on the sport. We have gotten used to top horses being retired after their 3YO season losing their army of fans to the sport. Then we had Justify not even completing his 3YO season. Now we may have Game Winner retiring after his baby season, disappointing even more potential fans and not even running in the Derby and TC races, which frankly are the only races most people even care about. Imagine any other sport surviving if all their top athletes retired as pre-teens. Yes the sport is increasingly becoming purely a breeding business but if the sport dies the business dies with it. They are killing the goose that laid the golden egg in the name of short term greed.
I don't know if the same rules still apply but in Germany the Jockey Club knew what they had to do to protect the survival of the sport and no horse could stand at stud unless they had raced at least 2 full seasons drug free.
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