Rodney Retirement Aftermath

Since the year 1987--25 years now--your blogger has been "in training" with race horses, referring to the daily expenditure of time, thought and energy, and that's other than to mention the $$$. This was to 12/11 with the decision to retire Rollin' Rodney, my last active horse. I doubt in all that time I ever once gave a thought to it--if I was without any race horses to train--what would I be doing with all that time. Now that it's here, for this post I'll merely confide that it's interesting.

Can we approach race horse ownership in two different ways? 1) we do everything ourselves or minimally stay totally involved with the animal, or 2) we have the financial wherewithal to employ others to train and care for the animal.

My thought process based on observation, and I figured this out rather quickly after I bought my first horse, one's chances of success in racing leaving things to a 3rd party is a lot like betting on the ponies--your individual success mostly depends on blind luck. Surely if you stay uninvolved you control some things--what horse to buy, you select the venue for early training, you select the trainer, you get your "reports" such as they are, but the reality is your horse is on its own and at the mercy of the day to day handlers. The owner in this situation is essentially gambling on the trainers "win percentage", i.e. Mr. or Mrs. Owner are playing the trainer lottery, and, is that any different that making a $2 bet on the Kentucky Derby only with a whole lot more cash. Let's confide for the uninitiated that most "win percentages" count only the horses that actually race. A 25% win percentage may look impressive on paper but is likely more accurately in the neighborhood of a 5% win percentage over all the horses that have gone through this trainer's stable. Thus, for this type of owner the Q: is the true win % of 5% worth the $50,000 minimal investment?

It's probably a very questionable proposition although I've never seen a study outlining the gory details. Akin likely to digging for oil. You strike a lot of dirt. From what I have seen at the race track, even in the best stables, the care our horses will get there is akin to the care that human babies get at the day care center. It makes logical sense when you consider except for one thing--human athletes under their coaches get expert individual attention. Our horses for reasons inexplicable rarely do although, of course, when your horse gets its first win check suddenly everybody wakes up and care and training improves.

The second method of ownership requires owner involvement which is also a mixed bag. A few thoughts next post.