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CONFORMATION
A photograph of the mighty Secretariat – deemed by many to have ‘per fect’ conformation.
I
F YOU visit the saddling enclosure at Royal Ascot, you will notice that some of the runners are offset at the knee, toe in or toe out, have long pasterns or perhaps even sickle hocks and curbs. Then you could visit the saddling enclosure before a selling handicap and you would see just how many of these poor performers have good conformation. The racing media only concentrates on the good horses whose conformation often becomes exaggerated by winning lots of races. Dual Guineas winning super-filly Attraction was famous for her poor conformation, but there are millions of other horses just as poorly conformed to which our attention is never drawn. In the same way, there are many poor performers with technically perfect conformation but we are led to believe that Secretariat’s conformation is superior because he won the American Triple Crown. There are many examples of Group Onewinning performers with less than perfect conformation in all disciplines of horseracing. Attraction’s offset knees which carried her to victory in five Group One races may be the most famous example, but there are others. On the other side of the pond, Real Quiet, who narrowly missed out on the Triple Crown by a nose in the
“There are many examples of Group One-winning performers with less than perfect conformation in all disciplines of horseracing” Belmont, passed through the sale ring as a yearling for a mere $17,000 and the current superstar Curlin also made little money due to his imperfect forelimbs. National Hunt racing is equally littered with examples of unlikely heroes. Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Looks Like Trouble could not have been better named as whilst he was a fine specimen of a racehorse, his front legs did look like trouble when walking towards you! Nonetheless, that did not stop him from winning jumping’s most prestigious prize. Dual Guineas winning filly Attraction was labelled as everything from a superstar to a freak. However, this did not stop her from fulfilling her Champion two-year-old filly potential and going on to win five Group One races. Ironically, she was eventually retired due to a hindlimb lameness and her
infamous knees stood training throughout her career. One thing is certain – a perfectly conformed horse in all areas except one bent foreleg will cost considerably less than the same horse with perfect conformation. Is it really correct to pay so much more to have little or no conformational faults, or should we be concentrating on certain faults and not others, or perhaps pedigree, size and stamp are more important? One only has to stand at the Tattersalls sale ring for a minute to hear the phrase “I couldn’t buy a horse with hocks like that”. At this point, I would like to question the evidence supporting an opinion like this. When asked what is most important when selecting future champions leading bloodstock agent Charlie GordonWatson answers, “athleticism and the
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