HORSE RACING : Another Sign of U.S. Decline

When leaders of the U.S. thoroughbred-breeding industry created the Breeders’ Cup, they dreamed it would become not only this country’s most important day of racing but a true world-championship event. Now that they have seen their wish come true, they may be regretting it. Saturday’s races at Churchill Downs were the most vivid demonstration yet of Europe’s ascendancy, and America’s corresponding decline, in world racing.

Three of the seven Breeders’ Cup stakes were won by foreign invaders -- the brilliant 2-year-old Arazi, the turf specialist Miss Alleged and the sprinter Sheikh Albadou. The latter horse provided the greatest shock, because he was able to beat our country’s best at a quintessentially American game: running six furlongs on the dirt. And the Europeans’ success came despite the fact that their two best horses this season, the 3-year-olds Generous and Suave Dancer, stayed home.

Why have the Europeans become so formidable? One reason is that their trainers have recognized that their grass runners can make the transition to dirt racing if they have the right kind of preparation. Europe now has many facilities for training on dirt; at France’s Chantilly training center there is a left-handed dirt course built on the lines of Aqueduct. Last year, when Dayjur and Ibn Bey suffered near-misses in the Sprint and the Classic, Europeans knew they were getting close to success on the dirt.

“Dayjur and Ibn Bey really encouraged people,” said English trainer Alex Scott, and he was encouraged to try his colt Sheikh Albadou on dirt. “He galloped on a sand-and-fiber surface for the last five months, and when I worked him four furlongs from a standing start in 46 2-5, I knew he had a chance.” European horsemen always used to disdain Americans’ reliance on the stopwatch in training, but they are learning how to play our game.

However, the main reason for the European success is more fundamental than their training methods. They have the best horses. Since the late 1970s, foreign buyers have dominated the major U.S. yearling sales -- first the Briton Robert Sangster, then the Maktoum brothers of Dubai. The sellers were delighted to collect windfall profits as the prices for yearlings skyrocketed, but they were sending abroad the thoroughbred genes that would be the foundation of Europe’s present success.

In 1984, for instance, the Maktoums bought a son of the brilliant American stallion Danzig for $675,000 at the Keeneland sale. The colt, named Green Desert, became a top sprinter and then retired to stud at one of the Maktoums’ farms in England. From his first crop he sired Sheikh Albadou. And when Sheikh Albadou retires, he will almost certainly stand in England too.

In 1981 Sangster paid $800,000 for an American-bred son of Nijinsky whom he named Caerleon. The colt won the French Derby, and then stayed in Europe for a career at stud at Sangster’s farm in Ireland. Caerleon sired Generous, the much-acclaimed English Derby winner this year. Having been retired, he will stand at stud in England too.

And now the most exciting racehorse that North America has seen in years is already bound for Europe. Arazi, who made such a spectacular move to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, was bred in Kentucky (as was Turf winner Miss Alleged) and is owned by an American. But Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum made Al Paulson an irresistible offer for a half-interest in the colt, and industry sources say the reason for the purchase was to ensure that Arazi would stand at stud in Europe when he retires.

“Many people think that Europe is going to dominate America in racing,” said Bill Oppenheim, editor of the newsletter Racing Update, but he offered a dissent to this theory. He pointed out that the scope of the U.S. thoroughbred industry is so much larger than Europe’s -- with eight times as many races, eight times as many foals and mares -- that we possess strength in numbers. Wealthy foreign owners like the Maktoums are establishing U.S. racing and breeding operations because there are so many more opportunities in this country.

Nevertheless, it is hard for observers of U.S. racing to suppress the sense that the quality of this country’s horses has been declining ever since the Europeans started to dominate our yearling sales.

In contrast to the 1970s, the so-called “decade of champions,” the whole decade of the 1980s produced few thoroughbreds who were recognized as great champions. The 1990 horse of the year, Criminal Type, was bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm but began his career overseas, and In Excess, probably the country’s best runner this year, was a European castoff. The ultimate indictment of America’s racehorses this season may come in the horse-of-the-year balloting. Many voters will cast their ballots for a European runner, Arazi, as America’s champion, because they can’t find a single U.S. horse who deserves the honor.