Pat, I agree with you about breeders wanting to keep the best. But wouldn't we all! If I had a litter - I would want the best and keep the best. That is just how it is.
I use to live in Florida - we had silky coats and some soft coated, but this was back in the 80's. I think people tend to go with what is winning. If you have judges give wins to the soft coated then that is what is popular or it seems to be. But many of the soft coated I have seen - usually have dead level toplines and great bone structure. You can correct the coat texture a lot faster than the bones. That is just my opinion and what I have noticed and share this opinion with many top winners across breeds.Bone structure is your base - your fondation. I have seen a lot of the lighter color yourkies with terrible toplines - they end up roached back. But again not all light color yorkies have this problem. You have some that are that way, the same as you have ones with cotton coats.
You just need to look at a lot of yorkies, study the lines, know the standard and judge each yorkie on its own merit.
T.