good or bad horse story?

[Real_Rush]

OK, young girl has a dream to own a “mommy horse” specifically to breed it and then race the offspring. So her father gives in and buys a Standardbred mare and they breed her to some crappy stallion. Yes, the colt did go on to race and actually win. But does this make the fact of irresponsible breeding acceptable?

Story: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-fairy-tale-of-a-horse-called-faith/

[Texarkana]

Repeating what I posted on Off Course:

This story made the internet rounds about a year ago.

What the reporters always fail to detail is that dad is not just some lucky schmuck trying to make his daughter’s dreams come true. The entire family has been in the standardbred business for many years. They knew what they were doing. And yes, the horse waaaaay outperformed expectations, that’s the fun part of the story.

Also, the father bought the mare already in foal from a breeding stock sale. This horse was bred to race, even if the pedigree is blue-collar. The dam was a stakes winner of over $120,000 on the track. The sire stood for $2,000.

There are lots of articles about the story in horse publications that give a less biased account than the national press. It’s an awesome story, but the media outlets leave out a lot of key details to give it that fairy tale spin.

A better article:

http://xwebapp.ustrotting.com/absolu...7946&zoneid=15

Looks like my link broke when I copied/pasted. Here’s the full link:

http://xwebapp.ustrotting.com/absolutenm/templates/hoofbeats.aspx?articleid=67946&zoneid=15

[Real_Rush]

Thanks for the additional backstory, Texarkana. I hadn’t heard anything about it until the link popped up on my internet home page. Knowing the full facts certainly casts the people and their story in a different light.

I just wish the press/media as a whole would provide more details and facts about stories instead of focusing only on the fluff or the horror, etc.

[Where_sMyWhite]

[QUOTE=Real Rush;8782667]
I just wish the press/media as a whole would provide more details and facts about stories instead of focusing only on the fluff or the horror, etc.[/QUOTE]

I suspect this wish will never go answered

That’s the media’s job… broadcast stories that get attention so they get advertisers. And/or the appropriate “spin” to reflect the channel’s views.

That’s why I don’t give many stories much time as they rarely reflect the “truth” or have much meat in them.

Texarkana, thanks for the additional info!

[merrygoround]

In any case, fluff or not, the racing world is made up of many of these dreamers and hopers. and for some such as Breana it pays off. Most time it doesn’t.

[Texarkana]

[QUOTE=Real Rush;8782667]

I just wish the press/media as a whole would provide more details and facts about stories instead of focusing only on the fluff or the horror, etc.[/QUOTE]

Me too, but a headline of “Industry insider’s daughter wins stakes races with homebred” isn’t going to turn any heads outside the horse world.