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Originally Posted by pba1817
If there was a minimum age for breeding(meaning horses would run through their 5yo season), do you not agree that there would be more opportunities for horses to earn their graded victories through a career? Thus enhancing their stud fees in their retirements?
How about coming up with some ideas of your own to fix the problems the industry faces??
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Sure running til 5 would give some horses a shot and graded earnings. Some ar late bloomers or suffered early injuries etc. The problem is that most horses will never be that good. The males should be gelded and raced where they fit. The issue is what to do with a nice filly that gets hurt while training for her 3yo debut. You can't breed her til she's 5 or 6 and meanwhile she needs vet care, board and farriery. She's a very expensive pasture puff and most owners simply cannot carry the costs of unproductive horses. The owner may have paid $100k or $1m for her and now she has no value (in fact she's a liability) for 3 years! This is not the way to encourage new owners to get involved.
Mares are the factories of the game. If you shut down production dramatically you will create havoc. You need to give breeders a chance to get products (horses) out there to the racing owners.