Avoiding and making a killing

You know those moments that remind you just how much your outlook differs from 'mainstream' views? I had another such experience yesterday, thanks to this article in the Sydney Morning Herald. The essentials of the story are that a mare was saved from slaughter:

There was something about the doleful animal standing at death's door that attracted Rebecca's attention, something that caught her horse lover's eye.

Research revealed the horse to be the thoroughbred Decency; due to a suspected history of breeding difficulties, it was decided Decency would be sold to a riding school. That was in turn ruled out after an injury the day before the sale.

"She was so sore it put paid to her becoming a riding horse," Rebecca said. "We nursed her through the injury, and I looked at her and said, 'You don't want to leave us, do you? You just want to stay here. But that's all right. You're a lovely, big girl."'

So the horse was obviously in the hands of some caring people. But the reporting makes it clear that the newsworthy thing is not this compassion in itself, but the fact that -- get a load of this! -- the foal that Decency eventually did bear is worth a pile of money (through breeding lines, the foal is connected to both last year's and this year's Melbourne Cup winners). The SMH reports the whole story under its Horse Racing section of the website, with a link on the front page, and the headline "The $600 mare and her $100,000 foal". And lest we think a bit of kindness could be its own reward, the final paragraph makes it clear where the real value lies, as far as the reporter is concerned:

So, the $600 rescue fee has been more than justified. How much more? One bloodstock agent suggested the broodmare value of Decency, now 11 years old, at about $100,000. Her foal, he thought, depending on her soundness, was also in the vicinity of $100,000. Such is life in the horse breeding game.