The thoroughbred industry has to go back to the great farms of the past such as Clairborne and harvest DNA from sincere great horses. Not just the record winners. Bold Ruler was a lousy stakes horse but he produced Secretariat.
One of the foundation sires has been Princequillo. I sincerely believe his bloodline is gone from the modern day thoroughbred.
There are reasons for thoroughbred deaths, cardiac failure is considered to be among the most minor of occurrence in the industry. Sudden cardiac death has no recovery for the horse. I find it most curious that a minority cause of death should be so concentrated in a practice by one trainer.
It is impossible to push these horses that hard anymore. They might have 'good bone' so they stay sound, but, their heart and lungs just dont' have what it takes. The reason for that is the high use of drugs for generation after generation. The drug abuse in horse racing created a Superhorse that was not genetically capable of dominating 'the win.' There is a lot of junk in the breed lines. A lot. The industry has to start over and pushing a two and three year old thoroughbred, when they don't reach maturity until the age of five, past their capacity isn't helping at all.
The reason two year olds are started is because of the cost of maintaining them. In the day of horses like Man'O'War, a horse was genetically capable of running a distance without demise at two. Decades later with multiple generations of race horses within a decade the breed has been ruined. To run these horses at that age is not only cruel, it is leading the end of the industry.
Thoroughbred racing needs to redefine itself, if at this point it can.
Breeding
There has been a lot of debate since 2006 about how sound the Thoroughbred is today compared to the 1960s and earlier. The only real data even remotely pertaining to the subject involves the average number of starts per horse, which The Jockey Club started tracking in 1950.
| Year | Avg. Starts | Starts | Runners |
| 2010 | 6.11 | 417,192 | 68,235 |
| 2000 | 7.10 | 493,682 | 69,569 |
| 1990 | 7.94 | 712,494 | 89,716 |
| 1980 | 9.21 | 593,849 | 64,506 |
| 1970 | 10.22 | 488,326 | 47,778 |
| 1960 | 11.31 | 337,060 | 29,798 |
| 1950 | 10.91 | 244,343 | 22,388 |
Those who argue the Thoroughbred is unsound also point to the fact that horse races are run over shorter distances today. Monmouth Park Racetrack general manager Bob Kulina said long distance races disappeared across America because not enough horses entered to race.A prime example of a race that reduced its distance to keep drawing horses is the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
| Year | Distance |
| 2010 | 1.25 Miles |
| 2000 | 1.25 Miles |
| 1990 | 1.25 Miles |
| 1980 | 1.50 Miles |
| 1970 | 2.00 Miles |
| 1960 | 2.00 Miles |
| 1950 | 2.00 Miles |
Horse conformation, which is a visible outcome of breeding practices, clearly plays a significant role in injury.
