The $50,000,000 lure

I can't wait for the Preakness tomorrow, I've been planning my Saturday around it all week! In some ways, the Preakness is the most exciting of all the Triple Crown races. With the exception of a few years (Grindstone's injury in 1996 is the first to come to mind), you always enter this race with one specific horse to root for, and the outcome means that there will either be a Triple Crown hope three weeks later, or there won't be. It's an important day!

Tomorrow, of course I will be rooting hard for Big Brown to continue down the Triple Crown road, but it will be with mixed feelings. Big Brown is owned by an investment group looking to turn a quick profit, which means that they are already in the process of negotiating a stud deal in the neighborhood of 50 million dollars. No matter how exciting the rest of the year is, Big Brown will just go to the breeding shed at the end of it.

I know that horses are an investment for everyone involved with them, but what will there be to invest in when every horse makes two good starts and heads to the breeding shed? I thought that these horses were bred to race, not bred to....... breed. Would Cigar have won 16 consecutive races if he'd retired in 1995? Or would we have had the battle of the Triple Crown winners if Seattle Slew had been retired after his? Would thousands have mourned John Henry if he'd retired right after that first Arlington Million win? These are the horses that captured the imagination of the non-racing fans. Citation, Seabiscuit, Forego- would people have grown up and entered the horse business if they had not seen these horses and been inspired?

Sure, the lure of a stud deal is tantalizing. But at what cost to the sport?