Terry Holdcroft, Owner Bearstone Stud
“We breed for speed, so I don’t agree with the changes that are being made to the Windsor Castle Stakes [with the distance increased to six furlongs and restricted to runners by sires that won over seven furlongs or upwards at two or a mile and upwards at three]. One or two of the trainers I’ve spoken to don’t agree with them either and I can’t see a lot of point to it.
I like to watch a mile-and-a-half race, but I breed sprinters and run sprinters for a reason. It’s okay to be protecting the middle-distance breed, and there are people who still want horses who take years to reach their best, but it’s not viable for the vast majority.
The cost of keeping these horses in training for two or three years before you find out if they are any good is maybe £25,000 per horse a year, and even then, you might be very competitive but win a race worth just £4,000. That’s the crux of it.
I don’t think trying to get people to breed or buy staying horses by fiddling about with race conditions is going to work, as no matter what they do with race planning, it’s not going to alter the situation. People nowadays want results, and they don’t want to pay for something that’s going to take time.
It’s a simple matter of economics. Those old-fashioned owner-breeders who had all those stayers just aren’t there now – they’ve died off. Coolmore are still breeding them, of course, but even some of their Derby winners are ending up as jumping sires.”
Steve Mellish, Racing TV pundit
“I wholeheartedly support the commitment of the Flat Pattern Committee and European Pattern Committee to safeguard the production, retention and racing of quality horses with stamina, so my answer to this question is yes.
The modern trend is to breed for speed rather than stamina. Two-year-old racing is becoming more important with the lure of quick returns for buyers at the yearling sales. Middle distance horses that are retired to stud have to hit the ground running or they’re quickly seen as jumping stallions.
There are more and more racecards chock full of races over a mile or shorter with fewer races over middle distances or further, resulting in a less attractive product for racegoers and all followers of the sport. There have been calls for the Derby and Leger to have their distances shortened – don’t even start me on this!
Courage and stamina are wonderful virtues of the thoroughbred, and races which test those qualities must be preserved. Speed is great, but so is stamina. Horses like Lochsong and Dayjur were admired, whilst horses such as Stradivarius and Persian Punch were loved. Racing risks losing countless fans if that sort of horse vanishes.
Altering distances and using restrictions based on sire qualifications to races like the Windsor Castle, as they have long done in the Chesham, is a small part in the strategy to protect and encourage stayers. Upgrading races such as the Long Distance Cup on British Champions Day is another. How much all this will help is debatable, but it sends a signal, and it makes a statement saying that stayers are valued and we will support them.”
Mark Johnston, Record-breaking former trainer
“I’m a great believer in us promoting stamina and middle distances but I just think this doesn’t work.
From a personal point of view as a trainer, I liked the conditions of the Chesham, in which runners had to be by a sire who won over ten furlongs or more, as I thought it gave me a bit of an edge. I won it three times, but I was never under any illusion that it was doing anything to strengthen the middle-distance or staying division.
The records tell us that of the 29 horses who have won the Chesham since the changes were first introduced, 14 of them never won beyond seven furlongs and only three won over a mile and a half or more. That’s not promoting stamina or doing anything to strengthen middle distances, and a Windsor Castle Stakes over an extra furlong will do even less.
It’s okay to have the odd race like that as a bit of a novelty, but to say that it’s done to boost the middle-distance or staying division is just nonsense. If you want to promote stayers, just put on more races over longer distances and offer more prize-money. It’s that simple.
Maybe in the long-term, bonus schemes are not such a good thing as they are a restrictive practice and exclude foreign-bred horses, but they certainly make us think carefully at the sales about what a horse can win in bonuses. Now with GBBPLUS there’s the added advantage that if you are running them over distances, you can win bonus after bonus after bonus, so it encourages you to have a staying-bred horse and compete it over middle distances. It works a treat.”
Tim Gredley, Leading Owner Breeder
“Any changes to the Windsor Castle won’t really affect us as we are predominantly breeders of middle-distance horses, and out of 30-odd two-year-olds this year we only had one runner at Royal Ascot, and she was bought by my dad. But while the Windsor Castle isn’t a race that we target, Royal Ascot is a tried and tested format and I can understand why a lot of people like the race, as it’s fast and it’s furious.
I completely understand why they are trying to encourage breeding more for stamina, but if people enjoy sprinters and breeding for sprinting then that’s their decision. If it’s not what people want to do you can’t force them to do it.
Although they are raising the distance to six furlongs as well as introducing sire qualifications, I actually think the changes might be detrimental, as it’s still a sprint and you are asking an animal who is not bred to sprint to do something he’s not ready to do.
If they want to do something positive for the middle-distance ranks, then put up better prize-money for that type of horse later on – it’s very simple. The breeze-ups are great if you want to buy a horse that can be racing in a couple of months, but ultimately breeding racehorses is a game of patience and if you are willing to be patient and give yourself a chance in those middle-distance races, you should be rewarded appropriately.
The problem at present is that if you get to Royal Ascot and they clearly aren’t Group-class then there aren’t sufficiently attractive options at home, so many of them are sold abroad. Better prize- money for the big three year-old handicaps will encourage people to keep them, and I also think that a better back-end programme at around a mile for the more stoutly bred two-year-olds would also encourage people to give more consideration to owning and breeding middle-distance types.
A race like the Royal Lodge is much more exciting than an early-season sprint race, as that’s where you start to see the bigger pedigrees taking each other on. Let’s have more of them.”
