Who would have thought it. The SBOANJ thanks the Governor for getting Freehold Raceway the money to raise their purses 30%. I guess the giving season is truly here.
As speculated, WEG has announced starting with the foals of 2014, in many of their races, the conditions will be changed to ban horses sired by four year olds. WEG is adopting these changes on a trial basis. Which races are being impacted? One must assume the major races such as the North American Cup will be included though the specific races will not be announced until early in 2012. It will be interesting to see if any other racetracks will be adopting the rules as the more tracks who adopt such rules will make 4yos in the stallion shed a money losing option.
Murray Brown from Hanover Shoe Farms takes a minor objection to my article regarding the 4yo Quandry. He claims blaming the breeders is wrong. Most breeders rather have the horses racing longer, but it is a question of an owner looking to cash in. If an owner is determined to cash in at stud, it becomes a question of breeder A getting the horse or breeder B getting the horse; you can't blame the breeder for locking the horse up as a matter of competition. In this situation, the blame belongs to the owner; especially if the breeder does not take an ownership s take in the horse and just stands the stallion.
However, we do have cases of breeding farms buying into a horse after their 2yo season or at the start of the 3yo season while they are still racing. In this case, I would suggest the Breeder shares part of the blame as often those syndication deals state the horse will go to the stud shed after his three year old season.
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