Afleet Alex

Afleet Alex has just been retired from racing.

While the detailed description of the injury leaves me with no doubt that retirement is appropriate (necrotized bone -- sounds horribly like bad Civil War injuries), and the colt's amazing athleticism and courage certainly should encourage mare owners to breed to him, we've had a string of retirements lately and this... just seems like it ought to be the final straw.

The Thoroughbred industry has to do something to combat unsoundness in racehorses. While Alex's injury probably was caused by the near-catastrophic accident in the Preakness, other horses are suffering career-ending injuries from nothing more than the stress of training and racing. I don't actually think all of those injuries would necessarily be career-ending if the horses were geldings, because this is particularly a phenomenon of stud prospects; I think greed for stud fees is part of what's going on; but that's not the whole story.

It is imperative for the future of racing that animals be produced who can race as adults (a three-year-old isn't even a mature horse) and can continue to inspire their fans for several years. I suspect the answer lies somewhere in breeding to sound animals who raced at 4, 5 and 6 and retired sound; track surfaces geared for safety rather than lightning-fast times; stricter medication rules; reducing sales and racing stress on two-year-olds; the patience to give horses time; the sportsmanship to keep animals on the track when they could be earning stud fees. Because those stud fees are going to bottom out fast if there's nowhere for the progeny to go because racing has declined due to a disappointed, uninspired fan base.

I think breeding is crucial. One recent tragic training death here in California was of an expensive colt whose sire and paternal grandsire both had short careers and soundness issues. Nobody wants to see that happen.

And nobody wants racing to continually lose its heroes, year after year.