Andrew Caulfield, January 3, 2006–More Thoughts on the Modern Thoroughbred P EDIGREE INSIGHTS "As a foal," he wrote, "Real Quiet hardly matched anyone's picture of a future Classic winner. Narrow BY ANDREW CAULFIELD enough to raise the image of an aquarium fish--he was nicknamed 'The Fish'--the colt's front legs appeared More Thoughts on the Modern Thoroughbred early on to be growing in several directions other than A few weeks ago Bill Finley's Writers Up article correct. entitled "What's Wrong With The Modern "[Eduardo] Gaviria [Real Quiet's breeder] elected to Thoroughbred?" provoked an assortment of responses, send the colt to the University of Florida veterinary ranging from "loved Bill's column" to "deplorable." center for a procedure designed to straighten growth of The consensus appeared to be that there is indeed a the legs. Surgical screws were implanted in both of soundness problem with the modern Thoroughbred and Real Quiet's knees early in his yearling season, and I was fascinated by the variety of the explanatory wires were attached in an attempt to force growth in theories put forward by readers. However, no one the desired direction. The procedure is sometimes espoused my pet theory--that the industry is in danger compared to straightening a child's teeth with of forgetting about the survival of the fittest, or natural temporary braces, and the wires and screws were selection. removed after six months. As any devotee of wildlife programs will know, "‘From an engineering point of view, it was an nature has developed myriad means of ensuring that alignment job,' said Gaviria. only the fittest, strongest and healthiest specimens are "‘It's not an uncommon procedure," said [Richard] allowed to pass on their genes to the next generation. Kingwell [of Ocala's Pride & Joy Farm]. ‘In the end, it The weaklings simply fall by the wayside. might have been just enough to get him over the edge But are those rules still being rigidly applied in the where he could stand training.' artificial world of the Thoroughbred, where profit is the "It was not enough, however, to win any beauty main aim of most participants? Of course racing has contests as a yearling. acted as a form of natural selection, with the best "‘He was a big gawky, crooked thing who was racehorses generally being the ones allowed to pass on typical of a yearling not ready to be sold,' said their genes, but some of that naturalness is being lost. Kentucky horseman Craig Bandoroff, whose Denali Perhaps because we demand too much of our horses, Stud consigned Real Quiet to the fifth day of the artificial aids, such as diuretics and anti-inflammatories, Keeneland September sale. ‘He had a lot of action at have become part and parcel of the racing industry. the barn on pedigree, but people would take one look Other advances in veterinary knowledge have seen when he walked out and tell us to put him back in the the development of corrective surgery, whether it be to stall.'" a horse's forelegs or its defective wind. The end result Two phrases strike me as particularly interesting in is that breeders can no longer be sure that young the above: the comparison of Real Quiet's screws and stallions, or young broodmare prospects, are as wires surgery to orthodontic work on children's teeth; qualified to pass on their genes as their racing records and the suggestion that the surgery may have made the might suggest. difference in getting Real Quiet to stand training. I have been pondering this question partly because of Anyone with crooked teeth--and there are plenty of the recent success of Real Quiet's daughter Pussycat them in Britain--will know that there's a good chance Doll in the GI La Brea S. Although Real Quiet's history that their children will also have crooked teeth (my son is fairly well known, it is well worth repeating some of is currently having $4,000 worth of work done!). So David Heckerman's post-race coverage of the 1998 the problem is likely to persist down the generations, Kentucky Derby which appeared in The Blood-Horse. and the same applies to badly incorrect forelegs. Caulfield cont. www.coolmore.com Of course it would be unrealistic to expect breeders and trainers not to take advantage of the remedies legally available to them, but these "advances" aren't necessarily going to benefit the breed in the long term. Real Quiet's well-publicized story can't have helped when he took up stallion duties at Vinery in 2000. His fee was set no higher than $25,000, even though he had won a total of five Grade I events at the ages of two, three and four and had gone very close to becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed. He also had an interesting pedigree, featuring 4x3 inbreeding to Raise A Native, the stallion who sired the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Majestic Prince and his champion brother Crowned Prince from Real Quiet's third dam, Gay Hostess. Mention of Crowned Prince reminds me that he was forced into premature retirement by a soft-palate problem after flopping in his trial for the 1972 2000 Guineas, for which he had been winter favorite. An operation was discounted on the grounds that the colt would be off the course for too long and a cure could not be guaranteed. Crowned Prince proved a major disappointment as a stallion before being sold to Japan. One can only speculate about the role his soft-palate problem played in his failure. One can also only wonder whether his premature retirement could have been prevented by today's veterinary techniques, and whether he--or other horses like him--would have been able to add to his reputation thanks to surgical intervention. To get back to Real Quiet, the fact that he now stands at $6,500 in Pennsylvania tells its own story. He attracted only 14 mares in his sixth and final season in Kentucky. However, his career has taken a distinct turn for the better since his move, as two of his daughters recorded end-of-year graded successes. Firstly, Wonder Lady Anne L proved herself a bargain when she took the GII Demoiselle S., and now Pussycat Doll has become his first Grade I winner in the La Brea S. These two come from 185 named foals in his first three American crops, the best of the rest probably being Bull Ranch (Premier's H. in Canada) and Quiet Cash (a graded-placed stakes winner). Real Quiet also traveled to Australia for the Southern Hemisphere season in 2000, ‘01 and ‘02. The third crop is just beginning to race, but there has been only one Listed winner so far. Real Quiet received significant help in siring a filly as good as Pussycat Doll, as she is the first foal of Hookedonthefeelin, the Maryland-bred winner of the La Brea in 1999. However, his other graded winner, Wonder Lady Anne L, is out of an unraced mare, so maybe fears about any innate weakness in Real Quiet's progeny are going to be unfounded. His percentage of runners to foals is acceptable, perhaps because breeders were aware of his problems and were therefore able to compensate in their choice of mare. But what if they didn't have that knowledge? I am sure there must be other horses out there whose problems weren't publicized..