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Originally Posted by Linny
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.
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The positives will far outweigh the negatives IMO, with any change there has to be some sacrifice and some burden met. The few injured horses will have to be cared for until the breeding age is reached.