Do you think that Ruffian's/Go For Wand/Eight Belles' pedigrees had something to do with them breaking down?

Question

I've always heard that Ruffian inherited brittle bones from her sire and that what happened to them was a result of over/inbreeding.

Answer 1

YES!

Ruffian's sire was Reviewer.  He broke his leg three times while racing.  Twice he made a comeback to continue racing, but on the third break, he retired.  Then he sired Ruffian who broke her hind leg as a two year old, then broke her front leg in the Great Match.

Eight Belles was by Unbridled's Song who passes down notoriously weak bones.

As for Go For Wand, I didn't think that Deputy Minister (her sire) had any problems, but I could be wrong.

In any case, all three of these tragic fillies have one thing in common: Native Dancer.  There's more breakdowns out of the Native Dancer line than any other, and despite the research and the urgings to stop using the Native Dancer horses, there has been no shift away from breeding his progeny.  Ruffian's damsire was Native Dancer.  Go For Wand goes back to Native Dancer through Northern Dancer.  Eight Belles goes back to Native Dancer through Mr. Prospector.  Why don't we outlaw the breeding of Native Dancer progeny?  Because they're the best racehorses... they run the fastest and win the most.  It's a shame that we don't breed a sounder horse.

Answer 2

Since the sires of today are not racing past their 3 year old season we are breeding out some of the durability that we had in the past. That is just part of the problem though. Here is a good website if you are interested in the safety of these horses.

http://www.saferhorseracing.com/gpage14....

The horses need you now more than ever!

Answer 3

Yes, their breeding had EVERYTHING to do with the reason these fillies broke down so tragically, but it was really only one piece of a very large pie. In the case of Eight Belles, she has been described by some experts( there was one who testified recently before Congress, at a hearing on racing safety prompted by the filly's death) as a "genetic disaster waiting to happen" because she was so inbred and had such an inherently weak bone structure. The simple truth is that all of these horses were inbred, but Eight Belles was by far the worst of the 3, because of her multiple crosses back to Nearco, who figures in the pedigree of all modern racehorses. Nearco was known for his stout body and fine, thin, weak legs- and he has passed these traits on to almost every one of his descendents to one degree or another. Had it not been for Nearco, and his famous breeder,the great Frederico Tesio of Italy, there would never have been a Ruffian, a Secretariat, a Bold Ruler, a Barbaro, a Go for Wand, or any of the other famous horses of recent years.

Eight Belles had far too many crosses back to this horse for comfort or safety- and what was worse was that she came from a line which is notorious in the Thoroughbred breeding world for producing horses which have only a limited number of races in them at best before they break down and die, the way she did. Big Brown, who is still racing, is ALSO a product of that line- on his mother's side of the family. He has already had a strong history of foot and leg problems this spring and summer- which comes as no surprise to me, given how inbred he is. I truly believe that this horse has at best, maybe one or two races left in him, and then he's going to wind up like Eight Belles or Barbaro- and as rank as he is, the likelyhood that he will make a good patient at a place like New Bolton is ZERO.

The simple truth, Curlin Fan, is that the Thoroughbred as a breed has been overbred and inbred so much in the last 50 years that the gene pool is shrinking. As this continues to happen, the incidence of preventable, hereditary defects ( such as the fine bone structure we keep seeing in horses like Eight Belles) is going to increase sharply, and there will be more and more horses which break down at early ages because of poor genetics. We are only just STARTING to see the effects of DECADES of poor decisions in the breeding shed, and they aren't pretty. But this is only one aspect of a much larger problem. The real cause of tragedies like the ones involving these fillies is simply that they are just TOO DAMM YOUNG to be doing what they are asked to do. A young TB racehorse is equivalent in its bone structure and development to a 9 year old child. We would never ask a 9 year old kid to run a mile or more on a dirt track with weights in excess of a hundred pounds strapped to his or her back- because it would kill the child. But we have no qualms at all about demanding that horses do this, so we can have a few minutes of entertainment- a few minutes which, more often than not, are DEADLY for the horse. What does THAT say about humans as a race, I wonder?? Horses CAN'T say no to us, and they CAN'T argue with us when we tell them to do something. If they try to, we either sell them, or we put them down. I don't think this says good things about those who run racing, or about our society as a whole.

Racing is a sport which desperately needs to be changed and overhauled, and made more humane and safe. I do not advocate banning it outright, and I never will- but I do believe that the sport can be improved upon and made less bloodthirsty and cruel. The whole culture behind the sport right now, and the economics which drive it, make absolutely NO SENSE whatever, at least not to me, and not to most people I know. Why does it have to cost a MILLION or more dollars before a foal is even on the ground?? Does no one other than me understand that this is a major reason behind the tremendous pressure to start these baby horses ( and they ARE BABIES) under saddle and in training at such young ages, LONG BEFORE their bones are ever strong enough to take such stress and pounding??  No one in the sport horse or non racing industry would even THINK about starting their horses at such an age, unless they wanted to see the animal end up in a premature grave, so why is racing different?? Why is it that I seem to be the only who realizes the connection between the need to sell horses as yearlings or weanlings, and the abusive feeding practices on the farms, which cause these babies to outgrow their own bone structures before they reach their third birthdays, the way Ruffian and Eight Belles both did?? Both these fillies were WAY TOO TALL for their ages when they raced- and it cost them their lives in the end. I have long held the belief, based on the accounts I have read of Ruffian's life, that she was a victim of abusive feeding practices which were designed to make her gain weight and look good for the yearling sales. Her trainer, Whiteley, spent MANY months during her first year with him just working her slowly to get the fat off of her so she could race at age two, because to do otherwise was to risk her getting hurt before her career even started. How many OTHER trainers in the modern age have to deal with this same problem, I wonder, and why do we have so much pressure on breeders that this is even necessary in the first place?? There must be thousands of them, to be sure. Overfeeding a young horse to put weight on the animal does the horse no favors whatever- and it can lead to overgrowth and the development of conditions such as epiphysitis, which in turn weakens bones and makes them more likely to break under stress. One would think that the TB breeding industry would be at least somewhat cognizant of this, and that they would take precautions to stop it from happening, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Eight Belles was also a victim of this practice, that much is clear- she was also way too tall for her age and gender. It's NOT normal for a filly to be almost 7 feet tall at the withers by age 3, unless that filly belongs to one of the draft breeds. Breeders do these things because they know that fat sells- and trainers and stock agents won't buy or bid on horses which aren't in good shape. But it's killing these babies- and yes, it costs everyone money in the long term.  

The answer to all these questions is a 5 letter word. M-O-N-E-Y. Racing is, and always has been, a money game- and a game for the elite rich. Small time operators have no place in it- and I am not sure they have ever had one.  That's sad, and I wish it were not true. The only way this will ever change is going to be as a result of a catastrophic accident of some type, in which PEOPLE, not just horses, DIE. That's the only thing I can think of which will finally make the powers that be in this sport wake up and smell the coffee. One thing is certain- racing can't continue this way much longer, or groups like PETA and the other animal rights nutcases will drive it right out of existance. When that happens, we all will lose.

Good question !!  

Answer 4

check out the bfal horseracing www.horseracinggold.org.uk great info in their forum also share your info their as well

Answer 5

I think that Thoroughbreds in America are being bred for money these days, and not soundness.  If they can win races at 2 and 3 years old, they are then retired to stud or as broodmares.  

Thoroughbreds bred and raced in Europe race for much longer periods of time, sometimes for 5, 6 and 7 years, which indicates that they are obviously much more sound than the fragile horses we see racing in the U.S.