Along The Rails

Here’s an interesting column in The Daily Gazette of Schenectady, New York.  It deals with not the usual industry complaints about lack of public interest in horse racing, but the crying shame that what little interest there is tends to focus on the Triple Crown races.

This is an issue which walks hand in hand with the current, lamentable practice of retiring successful three year olds to the breeding shed as soon as the Triple Crown season comes to a close.  Most who aren’t interested in horse racing tend to leap on board when there’s a good story to follow, so it makes sense to keep a healthy horse running a bit longer.

Seabiscuit ran some of his greatest races when he was seven years old– “practically geriatric,” as Laura Hillenbrand writes.  Allowing a fan base to form around a special horse like Curlin would greatly help the industry.