“The Thoroughbred exists because its selection has depended, not on experts, technicians, or zoologists, but on a piece of wood: the winning post of the Epsom Derby. If you base your criteria on anything else, you will get something else, not the Thoroughbred.”

-Federico Tesio

 I truly love this quote because it reminds us where the heart of thoroughbred racing actually lies. Think about all of this for a second. He is saying that if you are not breeding a horse that can go the distance of the Epsom Derby – which is 12 furlongs – then you are not breeding a racehorse, you are just breeding a horse.

It has driven me crazy every time I have seen a breeder with the intention to race his foal send his mare to a sire like Speightstown. The breeder knows that the newborn foal is only going to get five or six furlongs. He is breeding with the intention of winning the Vosburgh rather than the Epsom or Kentucky Derby and that is a mentality that I cannot understand.

Now I know what you are about to say, most stables have to win six furlong claimers in order to stay profitable and trying to win graded stakes races at a mile and a quarter is for dreamers. The problem is that thoroughbred racing is the least profitable sport that a would-be investor could ever hope to get in to – you are going to lose your money anyway. You are going to lose every single dime you put into this sport, so why not have some fun and swing for the fences while you’re doing it?

This is why many people including myself have been praising breeders who support the likes of Kitten’s Joy and the much cheaper Pleasantly Perfect. These are the horses that can sire the next derby winner not Speightstown. In fact, making a son of Speightstown run more than six furlongs is cruel and unusual punishment.

For all the owners out there I want you to look in the eyes of a man who owns a first time starter by Kitten’s Joy or Pleasantly Perfect, you will see some weird glint in his eye, that glint is called hope.