Cross Breeds

What happens to Jockey horses after their big race?

What really happens to Jockey horses after they win or lose their "big" race? Do they "retire" the horses? Or do they keep on racing them until the horses get weak and brittle? The person that gives me a link with a nice, good answer gets 10 points. PLEASE ANSWER ACCURATELY!

Public Comments

1. If they win they usually are retired and put to stud.... for breeding. If they lose, I'm not sure. They probably continue to race, in hopes of a comeback or at least winning lower level races. If a horse did well (2nd or 3rd) they probably are put to stud as well, since they are still very good horses. However, it's the horses whom never get to that big race that lose out the most... the byproduct of thousands of unwanted horses, those sent to slaughter, and the many others whom acquire injuries is horrific. They push the horses so far that it just becomes unreasonable, and they begin racing them way too early (most of the time a horse shouldn't even be ridden, nevermind raced at early ages!). If there were strict standards, every horse was cared for and everything was a bit more relaxed I think it would be okay, the idea of racing seems fun and it would be fun to watch, but there is no 'fun' in the majority of today's commercial horse racing. The winners are treated extreamly well, but the majority of underdogs lose out.
2. the jockeys don't have a say the owner does so maybe it will get run down, but most of the time they send it for breeding
3. a horse is like a bar of soap.... the more you use them the less horse you have left and you know when your soap gets really thin and "snap" down the drain it goes. then you get another bar of soap. jockeys will be around for many years until too many bad spills causes them to loose their "heart". once this happens they dont seem to have the will to ride hard. They make way of the up and coming hot shots who are looking to make names for themselves.http://www.trfinc.org/ here is a link for you. many famous well knowns and 1000's more go here. they must be somewhat sound at least weight bearing to go here. the majority end up at prisons and have inmates care for them. ask for Missy
4. they are canned into cat and dog food.
5. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "jockey horses". Do you mean thoroughbred racehorses? I'm not sure what you want a link to either. Most who make it to the track run a number of races, usually starting in smaller races, then moving up to bigger more important races if they have the ability. If they don't run well, they are generally sold on. They are retrained to be riding horses in many cases. Some are not sound enough or mentally suited to being riding horses sadly, and those are usually sold to be used for meat. Some, most often geldings or very cheap claiming horses, are run until they break down, as they have little value once they are retired. The horse racing game is a very tough one on horses. Those who run relatively well, or who showed promise but weren't able to run due to injury, will generally be used for breeding.
6. Your Answer: I have been closely involved with this sport for so long I don't even remember the first time was at a race track. My Dad's uncle was a thoroughbred trainer and they were very close, so as a child I was dragged to the track whether I wanted t or not. I am still very close to the sport and can accurately answer your question. Not sure what you want a link to but I will explain. Many top thoroughbred horses that have finished their duties on the track and were pretty successful go to the big breeding farms. Some top stallions such as Kingmambo, or A,P. Indy stand for fees of $300,000, live foal guarantee. Some others such as Smarty Jones, Birdstone, Point Given etc, stand at the stud farms for smaller, yet not cheap fees. Horse that did not fare as well on the track such as "The Green Monkey" who was bought for $16,000 flopped on the track and now stands for a modest fee of $5000. Pretty dumb huh? Some others are retired and sold as pleasure horses, hunter jumpers, or some go to Retirement homes for thoroughbred horses where they are taken care of. Lava Man ended his career last year and now resides at a very nice retirement home. Here are some links to some of the breeding farms. Very interesting as well. http://www.claibornefarm.com/ http://www.threechimneys.com/ Source(s): Horse owner and breeder Avid horse racing enthusiast
7. Technically speaking, your question is inaccurate. There are no such thing as "Jockey Horses". No race horses have just one "big" race and when they get retired or whether they continue to race depends on a million different factors. So answering this question cannot be accurate or specific. So even if you get an answer than seems to answer you it will be inaccurate. One even wonders why such a question is asked since there is no background in horse racing shown.
8. If a racehorse wins enough money, he or she will be sent to stud to sire foals or produce foals of his or her own. But the sad reality is that of the thousands of foals born every year in this country, only a tiny number ever make it to the track at all, and of those, only about one or two percent ever live long enough to become major stakes winners. The vast majority of race horses generally end up either injured or DEAD, often before they are even 4 years old and fully grown. The reason this is true is because racing is more than a sport, Blake- it's also a MULTI BILLION dollar INDUSTRY, one that employs MILLIONS of people, both nationally and globally. It's a money game, pure and simple. I know that people like Karin are going to knock me for saying this, but horse racing, while it might be exciting to watch, is one of the cruelest sports around. There are REASONS why we keep seeing tragedies like Eight Belles's breakdown and death at the Derby last spring- and money is one of the motivating factors. Money is what's behind the tremendous pressure to start horses in racing and under saddle as yearlings and two year olds- it's the only way a lot of these people can recoup some of the huge investments they make in producing these animals in the first place. I saw Karin say that the current stud fees for top sires like AP Indy are running about $300,000- and that's JUST the STUD FEE. That amount DOESN'T include all the costs associated with supporting a mare while she's pregnant, or taking care of the baby once it's born. Last time I checked, Blake, 300,000K was almost a quarter MILLION dollars- and when breeders have to spend THAT kind of money before a foal is even born, then I think you can see why they feel that it's imperative that the horses start racing at such young ages. But starting horses in training that young doesn't come without a price- and for far too many of these animals, that price is VERY HIGH. This pressure to start horses so young for financial reasons leads to other abuses too, such as the overfeeding which is common on a lot of the bigger farms. The farm managers do this because they have to get the horses ready for the fall and spring yearling sales, and it's an unwritten rule that fat sells. Horses which are thin or underdeveloped will not sell- and no sales means no profits, and it also means job losses and pay cuts for the employees on the farms. But the overfeeding itself carries risks- it often leads to overgrowth, and to conditions such as epiphysitis, which is an inflammation of the growth plates at the ends of the long bones in the horse's legs. Epiphysitis weakens the bones and makes them more likely to break under the stress of hard work- but because there is so much pressure on breeders to turn a profit and keep their businesses in the black, little if any effort is ever made to put a stop to these practices. Overfeeding, and the overgrowth which it led to, was one of the major contributing factors in Eight Belles's death. She was much too tall for her age and gender, and I think that she literally outgrew her own skeleton by the time she was 3 years old. Another factor in this equation is poor genetics. The Thoroughbred racehorses of today are the most overbred and inbred animals in existence. We are only just STARTING to see the consequences of DECADES of poor decisions in the breeding shed, one of the worst of which is the shinking of the gene pool. As bloodlines have become more and more concentrated, there has been a sharp increase in the incidence of hereditary defects, such as the superfine, inherently weak bone structure which Eight Belles had, and which many other horses from the line which produced her also have. Plus, it's a little talked about secret that there are certain lines and families within the Thoroughbred breed which are NOTORIOUS for producing horses with only a limited number of races in them before they break down and DIE- and Eight Belles came from one of those families. Tragically, so did Ruffian, Go For Wand, Pine Island, and yes, even Barbaro. One can only spin the genetic wheel just so many times in the same direction before disaster will strike, and that's the situation which breeders of today's racehorses have found themselves in. So yes, if a horse does well enough on the track, he or she will retire and live a life of ease. But for most racers, that's just a dream. There are still plenty of people who dispose of their "excess inventory" by putting them on trucks bound for the border and the slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico, I am sorry to say. Still others do things like euthanize these animals and render their bodies into leather or glue. Only a very few ever get sold as riding horses- and most of those animals generally have serious health or behavior problems which require months or years of rehabilitative work before the animal recovers, if it recovers at all.