Trends reveal problems and openings for stamina breeding

Bryan Mayoh argues many jumps sires are of value to Flat breeders

Champs Elysees: a good example of a stallion now marketed at jumps breeders but still of value for the Flat

Those who value the diversity of the racing programme should be seriously concerned at the decline in the production of middle-distance and staying horses in Britain and Ireland.

We are not yet in the position of Australia, where only three of the past 20 winners of the country’s greatest race, the Melbourne Cup, have been homebred, but we are in danger of following the same fashion for short-distance speed.

With this approach now well established in the US and increasingly evident in France, there is a danger that Japan will soon be the only major racing nation in which middle-distance racing ability is a principal objective for breeders.

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Published on 16 January 2017inComment

Last updated 14:59, 16 January 2017

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