Are Today’s Horses Better--or Just Richer? : Hall of Fame: The top 26 on the money list raced in the ‘80s, but only three have been named to the sport’s top honor.

Horses are earning more than ever. The 26 on the all-time money list, running during the proliferation of million-dollar races, all competed in the 1980s. The first pre-1980 horse on the list is Affirmed, the 1978 Triple Crown champion, who ranks 27th with purses totaling $2.3 million.

But are modern horses better? When John Henry, the gelding who ran from 1977 until he was a 9-year-old in 1984, is inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame, across the street from the Saratoga track, today, he will be only the third honoree from the ‘80s. The others, whose careers ended at the beginning of the decade, were Genuine Risk, the filly who won the 1980 Kentucky Derby, and Spectacular Bid, who was named horse of the year for ’80.

Horses must have been retired for five years before they are eligible for the Hall of Fame, so the voters can decide later on the qualifications of Lady’s Secret, Alysheba, Personal Ensign, Sunday Silence, Easy Goer and a few others. But it appears that the 1980s might be represented by fewer horses than almost any other decade.

“They were saying the same thing when I got out of training, that horses of my time (1955-84) weren’t as good as (the ones in) the old days,” said Elliott Burch, trainer of Sword Dancer, Arts and Letters, Quadrangle and Fort Marcy and elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980.

Burch, one of 34 Hall of Fame trainers and jockeys who will attend today’s induction of John Henry, All Along, Bimelech, Zaccio, trainers Ron McAnally and Jonathan Sheppard and jockey Jorge Velasquez, said modern horses are as good as those from other eras.

“The only difference is the way trainers train them,” Burch said. “It used to be that you could get away with running a good horse only four or five times a year. Now you run a horse back off of what he got out of the previous race. Most of the time when I trained, you’d run a horse off of training (morning gallops and workouts).”

Burch appears to be in the minority in comparing horses of different eras. John Nerud, who trained in 1935-78 and was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1972, believes horses from bygone days were superior, and so do Mack Miller, Henry Clark and Angel Penna, other conditioners who have been inducted into the hall.

“There’s never been another horse like Dr. Fager,” said Nerud, referring to the horse of the year in 1968. “He could carry weight; he won sprinting, at distances and on grass, and he was the fastest horse who ever lived. The only horses that have come close to him in recent years have been Seattle Slew, Affirmed and Alydar.”

The trio mentioned by Nerud all raced in the 1970s. Asked about Spectacular Bid, Nerud said:

“He was what I call a jump-up horse. He was like Carry Back. By a jump-up horse, I mean one that wasn’t very well-bred, and who didn’t breed much after he was retired.”

Miller’s major horses have been Java Gold, Assagai, Hawaii, Snow Knight and Leallah. Since 1977, he’s been the private trainer for Paul Mellon’s Rokeby Stable, where Burch once worked.

“In the old days,” Miller said, “owners let their trainers be more patient with horses. It wasn’t a hurry-up game, and you weren’t training your horses like there was no tomorrow.

“It used to be that you could fire and blister a horse when he had a leg problem, and send him to the farm to give him six months to recover. Now, the trend is to treat those ailments with medication, because there’s no time to rest a horse six months. Luckily, I work for an owner who still gives me that time. He doesn’t even read the condition book (a list of upcoming races), but he’s one of only just a few owners who don’t.”

After he left training, Nerud managed Tartan Farm, the Florida outfit that bred and raced top horses. Nerud is critical of the way the breeding business is operated today.

“Twenty-five years ago,” Nerud said, “the breeding business was controlled by the rich people--socialites and members of the (New York) Jockey Club. They had the major sires--horses like Bold Ruler--and nobody else could get to them to breed.

“Now, it’s the era of big money in the selling of horses. This is what’s broken up the breeding cartel from the old days. At Tartan, we bred horses to run, not to sell, but the breeding business has changed because not many farms think that way.

“Now they take the top pedigree and breed that horse to the top pedigree, hoping that they’ll get the horse that brings $2 million at a sale. Many farms don’t breed for soundness now, because they sell their horses. They don’t have to worry about training them.”

Burch, who lives in Rhode Island, attended the races with other Hall of Fame members at Saratoga Wednesday, one of the few times he’s been to a track in recent years. He stays current with the sport by reading the Blood-Horse, a weekly trade publication.

“Do I miss it?” Burch said. “I miss the work in the mornings. But the afternoons and going to the sales, I hated that part of it. If you didn’t have a good owner and a good horse, it wasn’t a lot of fun.”