Is US losing ground to Irish, British horses?

By Sid Fernando

The Dubai World Cup, in its relatively short history, has become the most cosmopolitan racing carnival in the world. It’s also the most lucrative, and the $10 million Dubai World Cup is by far the richest race in the world. There are 100 horses entered for the 7 stakes races at Meydan Saturday for Dubai World Cup day. Of these, 26 were bred in the US (26 percent), 21 were bred in Ireland (21 percent), and 19 were bred in Great Britain (19 percent). Based on the percentage of each country’s global production of foals (using 2008 stats as a general barometer), the Irish- and British-foaled runners are significantly over represented this year, which may be a sign that they are the horses of choice on the international scene, where turf racing dominates.

In 2008, according to figures published by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), there were 33,550 registered foals in the US, which was 28.1 percent of the world’s foal crop. With this in mind, the 26 percent US-bred runners entered at Meydan is in line with the percentage of US-bred foals globally. According to IFHA, however, there were 12,419 foals dropped in Ireland in 2008 and 5,987 in Britain the same year, giving these countries significantly higher representation at Meydan than their percentages of foals globally. Ireland contributes 10.4 percent of the global foal crop—almost half the percentage of Irish-breds entered at Meydan—while Britain contributes only 5.4 percent of the foal crop vs. 19 percent at Meydan Saturday.

The hosts of Meydan, the Maktoums—I counted only the horses bred by Darley, Gainsborough, and Shadwell—bred 11 of these 100 entries, or 11 percent of the total. Of these Maktoum-bred horses, only 3 were bred in the US: Snaafy (by Kingmambo), bred by Shadwell; Anmar (by Rahy), bred by Shadwell; and Campanologist (by Kingmambo), bred by Darley. As is evident, Kingmambo and Rahy are noted sires of turf horses, with the former aged and the latter no longer in service.

When the Dubai World Cup moved to Meydan this year from Nad Al Sheba, the dirt races on the card—including the Dubai World Cup (dirt)— disappeared, too. Now, all the races at Meydan are either on turf or on the all-weather Tapeta surface. The US racing program, of course, historically has been built around dirt racing and sprints, but over the years—with much controversy—we’ve incorporated all-weather racing here as well—exclusively for the time being in California. Not surprisingly, 4 of the 10 entered for the $2 million Golden Shaheen at 1200 meters (about 6f) on Tapeta Saturday were bred in the US, but would you believe that none of their sires stands in the US now? Forest Camp, the sire of Force Freeze, is in Korea; Yankee Victor, sire of Kinsale King, also is in Korea; Gilded Time, sire of Gayego, is in Brazil; and Danzig, sire of Muttheeb, is dead! Moreover, two of our leading sires here, A.P. Indy and Unbridled’s Song, both top-class dirt sires, are not represented by a single Dubai World Cup day starter. That about puts everything in perspective.