And the only one not racing anymore (and thankfully still with us against all odds) is the Derby winner.

The KY Derby is too far for 3YOs to race 4 months into their 3YO seasons. There are only a handful of horsemen with the acumen to pull this off, and only a couple of colts per year who can withstand the grind of a Derby campaign, yet each year there are 20 runners in the gate-- a few with the talent and foundation to win, the rest driven by the greed and delusions of grandeur of some owners who have the lyrics from an old Dan Fogelberg song bouncing around their brains.

Ask Nick Zito how tough it is to win the Derby. Ask Todd Pletcher. Ask Bobby Frankel. Ask Bill Mott and Shug McGaughey, who rarely put their runners through the Derby wringer, why this is so.

The industry is currently based on instant or early gratification. Breeders are looking to produce a horse who can work an eighth mile in less than 11 seconds the week of a 2YO in training sale; owners are fixated on those May roses.

This is one of the reasons the game is not too gratifying for Racing fans, why overhyped stallion prospects are marched off to the breeding shed with minor injuries, why we rarely see Triple Crown racers competing as older horses, why we have a $750,000 race which draws 4 runners.

4 runners in a race where SECOND money was $150,000. Amazing to me that with the vast amount of quality horseflesh entrusted to Messrs Frankel and Pletcher that neither one was represented in this race. Ditto I guess the aforementioned Mott and McGaughey.

Imagine if professional sports stars were made so wealthy as teenagers that they were too wealthy to have to compete by the time they were 25...

Possible solutions to the problem of early retirement in Racing (this IS a problem, because the lack of continuity makes it difficult to build the "brand" of Racing, as they would say in the retail biz):

Solution 1: Subsidize geldings and older horses. Limit some big money races to geldings and older horses. Give geldings a weight allowance and purse enhancement when they race against "entire" horses. (Come on folks, admit it, we all want to see Perfect Drift v Funny Cide, to see which of these "gallant geldings" has a stronger will NOT to win).

Solution 2: A HUGE bonus for OLDER runners who win multiple Grade 1 or Graded stakes. Maybe some big money stakes races late in the year which exclude 3YOs.

Solution 3: Huge bonuses for winners of Triple Crown races who stay around and win stakes races as older horses.

Discreet, "Nardi" and Henny all good advertisements for passing on the Run for the Roses?