Eskendereya Retired

The big news in racing is the retirement of Eskendereya as of Friday May 7. According to Bloodhorse.com, Ahmed Zayat will retain a stake in partnership with Jess Jackson, owner of Curlin and Rachel Alexandra. Nothing has been officially announced, but don't be surprised if Eskendereya is soon joined by Rachel Alexandra who is having what might be described as a less than stellar start to her four year old racing season.

Jackson is on a mission to recreate the American thoroughbred, based on the theory of breeding the best to the best (and his own subjective evaluations of that criteria), and the pairing of Rachel with Eskendereya as well as Curlin would certainly fit into his plans.

As for Eskendereya, well it is a shame that a horse with such promise is retired with so little experience--four victories in six starts with one second. True that experience includes some significant wins (Wood Memorial, Fountain of Youth Stakes) but the hypothetical will always loom in his pedigree.

Certainly Zayat's financial issues played a part in his decision to retire the horse and cash in on his breeding potential, rather than wait out a soft tissue injury with no guarantees of ever being able to fully regain his former level of fitness, but I can't help but wonder how big a role his insolvency played in this latest decision. Clearly Jackson has come to the rescue in more ways than one.

It will be very interesting to see what kind of price tag will be attached to a date with Eskendereya as well as what his progeny will do. The state of racing is such that fees for seasons to tops studs are not what they used to be and one hopes that Jackson and Zayat will not overbreed their top stallions when they may be the only ones who can afford to keep and/or buy them.

You can't fault any of the parties involved for the decision; it is their best and perhaps only option. That doesn't stop us from wondering not only what might have been, but also what might have been done to prevent yet another career ending injury.