Racing of horses their 4-year-old year discussed at Congress

A Tuesday meeting of the Stars of Racing Committee attracted a crowd of nearly 100 during the first day of the Racing Congress at the Bellagio hotel/casino in Las Vegas, with the subject being a proposal that would mandate the racing of horses past the age of three before heading to stallion duty.

Impassioned speeches were made on both sides of the equation, a discussion that will be continued during the Wednesday morning Congress session by a panel that includes Walnut Hall Ltd.’s Alan Leavitt, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority’s Dennis Down, and Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs owner Jeff Gural, who first proposed the idea that horses—if healthy—race their 4-year-old year before going to stallion duty. The goal is to keep the sport’s stars on the racetrack in the hopes of developing star power to attract fans..

“There is opposition from the breeders obviously, but I think we all came out of the meeting with an understanding that we need to do something, “ committee member Jason Settlemoir told harnessracing.com. “While we didn’t come out of the meeting with the wording of that this is what we are going to do, what came out of the meeting was an understanding that we are all on the same page here and we need to do something to move this industry forward.”

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