Re: [RC] Thoughts on President's Cup - Truman Prevatt
Actually the US did very well in the Olympics before pros were let into
the Olympics. Our track and field teams were still the best in the
world as was our basketball and boxing team. We even beat the Russians
in hockey in 1980 with college players.
Don't fool yourself we have runners who were in the military and their
whole job was running. My track team mate in high school went to West
Point and spent 20 years in the Army. He ran for West Point and he ran
(that was his job in the Army) after he got out until he retired from
active competition and then he coached and trained other runners. So
like everything there are a lot of shades of gray.
Bottom line about the UAE's program is a good one. They can train good
horses to be great horses and great horses to be spectacular horses.
How long will these horses be on top? How long can a human marathoner
run a 2:08 marathon - not very long. Speed is fledging and a horse
that can run a 7:20 100 is probably over the hill when his time falls
to 8 hours. They may be at that level for a year or two and they have
to find another job.
The UAE has raised the bar on endurance. Could one of these horses come
over an win the Tevis or Big Horn. I suspect if they spent 6 months
training in the environment and terrain got the right rider - I suspect
it would run away with it. A great athletic at it's prime is awesome to
behold and I think that's what the winner of the President's Cup is - a
spectacular athletic peaked for the ride and awesome to behold.
After all our best were over there and ( not to take anything away from
their effort ) got their clock cleaned.
Is this what I personally see in endurance? Nope, but if I were 25
years old, not so beat up from previous athletic endeavors, many pounds
lighter and had a good horse - I'd sure give it a shot. There are alot
of people that want to take a shot at the brass ring. And the horses
at this level are something to behold.
This type of racing doesn't
effect me as an individual rider here in the US because I do not want
to support this kind of endurance racing by participating or selling a
horse that would be ridden in this type of ride. But I would hope in
the future that information gained in training, research, feeding, etc.
would be shared with the entire endurance community and therefore we
could all benefit from the millions spent on endurance racing in the
UAE. The situation with the US sending teams to
compete internationally against horses/riders with access to the best
of the best and where $$$ is no problem is a little like the US Olympic
teams competing with the USSR teams in the 1970s and early 1980s where
the USSR athletes were chosen/culled at a young age and then could
completely concentrate on training for their given sport with complete
sponsorship from a government with no spending limits on their athletes
or their needs. I know were are not talking "government sponsorship"
in endurance riding but I am sure you can see my analogy. Some may not
think this is fair but on a smaller scale we deal with this in our
local endurance riding community. Some riders can afford better
horses, rigs, tack, and most of all, have more time to train. Some
riders can afford to go to more rides and can take more time off work.
The list goes on and on.
