fix to short term racing careers

[Halfbridled]

It's all a matter of opinion, but I would prefer it if we could only allow horses to breed when they are five years old. Maybe some exceptions. . .
And also to have some big races with huge purses for horse who are five years old or older.

[sumitas]

Absolutely. I've always liked the idea of a Senior division. Like the Senior tour in golf. Let's spread the stakes money around. The factory farms just suck up all the graded stakes money now with their devious tactics.

[cakes44]

Originally Posted by Halfbridled

It's all a matter of opinion, but I would prefer it if we could only allow horses to breed when they are five years old.

This is the best idea I've heard, but, and I'm certainly no legal expert, I'm not sure it would ever hold up in court.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by cakes44

This is the best idea I've heard, but, and I'm certainly no legal expert, I'm not sure it would ever hold up in court.

Of course it would; if the Jockey Club would decide that the rule for registered Thoroughbreds is that they can't have been fathered by a horse younger than five, then that would be the rule. As it is, they made a rule that Thoroughbreds registered by them must be produced via natural cover, not artificial insemination. Other equestrian disciplines use AI all the time. Law doesn't enter into it, unless a person could argue he or she was being discriminated against on basis of race or gender. Since the registrants aren't human, and the rules would apply equally to all Thoroughbreds, regardless of color , there's no grounds.

I agree; restricting breeding to five and up would provide more of a financial motivation to keep running horses- if there's not money to be made in breeding, why not race? The catch would be- A) the breeding industry having short enough memories that a horse would lose enough value by being mothballed, so to speak, for two years so that it wouldn't make sense to just retire and wait 2 years and B) with a horse like Big Brown valued at $50 million, that makes for a very, very expensive insurance premium, so who knows if owners other than the very rich would be able to afford to keep running their stars.