Australia Neutered

[mistermack]

The Melbourne Cup was won by a girl on a (NZ) gelding.
Kiwis thrash the Wallabies.

Is this the end of the "lucky country" as we know it ? Nobody with bollocks can beat a girl on a NZ Eunuch?

Where did it all go wrong ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/horse-racing/34702040

[Jason]

Can stallions run fast? Don't their bollocks at least pendulum painfully at full gallop?

[mistermack]

Can stallions run fast? Don't their bollocks at least pendulum painfully at full gallop?

Under British National Hunt racing (i.e. Steeplechase) rules, to minimize the health and safety risk for horses, riders, and spectators, nearly all participating horses are geldings.[11] On the other hand, in other parts of Europe, geldings are excluded from many of the most prestigious flat races including the Classics and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe[12] (with an exception being the French classic Prix Royal-Oak, open to geldings since 1986).[13] In North American Thoroughbred racing, geldings, if otherwise qualified by age, winnings, or experience, are allowed in races open to intact males. The same applies in Australia.

It seems that there's no speed advantage to gelding, or they wouldn't allow direct competition with Stallions. They geld them if they are hard to handle. Some stallions are useless around mares and fillies, and can be downright dangerous. If you geld them, you don't get to breed from them, but you might get to win races, with a horse that otherwise would just have been a dangerous liability.
And even though you get no value from stud fees, if he wins a big race like the Melbourne Cup, the value of his siblings and sire go through the roof, so if you bred the horse, it's still a big pay-day.

I'm wondering now if they save semen from top horses, before they geld them?
Horses are difficult to breed by donor egg, but the technology seems to be making progress.
Maybe today's geldings will be tomorrow's sires.