JC / Railbird - Incentivizing

Incentivizing

To change the breed, change the tracks, writes Jay Hovdey in his latest column (DRF+):

Remodeling the breed will be a slow process, but first it will be necessary to increase the incentive to produce a different product; otherwise, the cruel realities of the unfettered free market will lead to racing’s own version of the subprime mortgage disaster.

The solution is already out there, waiting to be spread. Perfecting and adopting the technology of engineered surfaces — a combination of natural and synthetic material built to drain moisture and cushion impact — is the only way to prompt a change in the breed.

Makes sense. For breeders to produce horses with qualities other than precocious speed, there must be a market …

Posted by JC in Breeders/Breeding on 05/07/2008 @ 8:30 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter

2 Comments

Jess,
I completely agree that the problem is not the market per se, but that the incentives as they exist are all wrong and need to be tweaked to produce different outcomes.
That said, I don’t see this solution as working. The real problem with the breeding industry isn’t so much its focus on speed as the focus on precocity at the expense of durability. The problem is that there is no incentive to produce sound horses; a horse only needs a handful of good starts to guarantee his breeding future. Changing the surface might be good for various reasons (or it might not – data still inconclusive), but it won’t change the fundamental issue: you’re better served having a horse who matures early, runs very well at two and three, and is a dud thereafter than you are with the reverse.

Posted by Frank on May 8, 2008 @ 9:45 am

Frank, thanks for making that distinction. It’s easy to get wrapped up in talking about speed when durability is the issue …

Posted by Jessica on May 9, 2008 @ 7:08 am

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