Thoroughbred racing?

Question

who is in charge of setting the rules of what age a horse can race(i.e what group, association, or club, who makes the rules for racing in the U.S.?) I am trying to do a persuasive speech on horse racing and I am trying to persuade my audience that the age that a horse should begin racing should be raised to 3 or older to help reduce the likliness of a breakdown.

where can I find the rules and regulations regarding the age of the horse?

Answer 1

The Jockey Club (http://www.jockeyclub.com/) is the organization that sets the rules and regulations for registering Thoroughbred horses, and has a heck of a lot of clout on rules of racing; but the basic rules are written by the various racing commissions that govern the various tracks within the states.

You wouldn't really even have to effect a rules change to stop two-year-old racing; just get the racing secretaries, who write the "condition book" that lists the races to be carded at the tracks they work for, to agree not to card races for two year olds.

Some tracks have taken a stand that they won't card races for two-year-olds before a certain date. Thirty-odd years ago, there were tracks that as a novelty would card two-year-old races at two furlongs on January 1.

Answer 2

The only set rules regarding the age of a Thoroughbred is that their official birthday is always January 1st. (At least in this hemisphere. In Australia it's August 1st.) This means that an April foal is only nine months old on its first birthday and can run in two-year old races before it's actually two years old. And if you accidentally have a December foal, it'll always be at a huge disadvantage.

(Incidentally, Street Sense's birthday is Feb 24th, while Curlin's is May 25th and Hard Spun is May 10th. This means that neither Curlin nor Hard Spun were true three year olds in the Kentucky Derby - and Curlin is still a few days away from it even though he won the Preakness!)

Two year olds can't compete against horses outside of their age group - and the distances for those races are usually short; generally only around one turn and not the entire circumference of the track. Three year olds can compete against older horse, but many races are set up for three year olds only, including the Triple Crown. You usually won't see three year olds racing against older horses until later in the season. (Such as Invasor (4) beating Bernardini (3) in the Breeders Cup last year.)


Otherwise, it's up to the racetrack officials themselves to set the rules for the races they hold. Races vary by age of horses, distance and other conditions.

Hope this helps a little.

Answer 3

I applaud you for trying, but you will never change the system -- because MONEY is God to these people. They don't actually CARE if a horse breaks down by the time he's 5 years old -- by then he has run enough races to be worth a LOT more as a stud. And who cares if the stud can barely walk? As long as he does his duty and makes more money for them, they are happy.

It's DISGUSTING that they ride horses as young as 18 months and race them at 2. No horse should be ridden until they are 3! And the WORST of it is -- other breeds and disciplines now think it's OK to ride horses that young! It's COMMON to see Arabians, Morgans, Quarter Horses, whatever, being ridden at 2 years old. And they wonder why there's so much LAMENESS nowadays!

You'd have to change the trainers, owners and breed association -- an impossible task.

But good for you to keep trying!

Answer 4

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association

http://www.ntra.com/

Answer 5

Contact the racing commission at your track they have a racing manual they may let you have. The rules are made up by the racing commitiy. the changing the age isn't going to stop breakdowns. It's many other factor in play that causes breakdowns not so much age.

Answer 6

I don't know, but good luck with the speech

Answer 7

I know your totally right!