Yeats · 12.08.08

Considering my ongoing interest and championing of distance horses, I have been remiss in not writing about perhaps the greatest stayer at the moment: Yeats).

His third-straight victory in the 2 1/2 mile Ascot Gold Cup in June established the 7-year-old horse as one of the all-time greats. This article in the Independent says it far more eloquently than I could. The following month, he followed this with a second victory in the Goodwood Cup. Yeats looks like a lock to win his third-straight Champion Stayer Cartier Award.

What is unfortunate — and inevitable considering the sport’s and the breeding industry’s emphasis on speed and precocity, rather than stamina and durability — is that when Yeats retires there will likely not be much demand for his stud services. It is more likely that he will be bred to produce steeplechasers rather than flat racers. On the positive side, this means that his stud services will likely go for a song. If I had a promising mare that had shown a bit of flash during her career, I would take a chance on sending her to Yeats. With a little luck, the resulting foal might just have the right combination of speed and stamina from its parents to be a Triple Crown or Breeders’ Cup contender.

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What do you think?

  1. Dr. Roman (Dosage inventor) says it all the time: in the balance between speed and stamina (opposite classes of brilliance and professional) one has to balance or the breed will suffer. It’s is much akin to a chemical equation at equilibrium: load up one side and the chemical reaction no longer works. It is the same with breeding: there has not been any new chefs-de-race
    on the stamina side since the 70’s. Breeders are painting themselves into a corner, one they will not be able to escape from when we will all start watching 2 furlong races.

    — Dr, Timothy Yatcak · Aug 14, 10:34 AM · #

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