USTA rule proposal of 35 starts a year. Your opinion ?

[Parked]

That is for 4 year olds and up. 

[Harness racer]

They will allow younger horses unlimited starts?  Seems stupid to not make it a rule for everyone.  Although I don’t agree with it at all.  If you look, most horses that fall or die during a race aren’t over raced.  They are lame and the track vet doesn’t pay attention.  Don’t make new rules, just hold the vets accountable for not doing their job.

[Brown jug]

if its a rule, any rule  coming from the usta than i disapprove of it

[Parked]

20 starts for 2 year olds, 25 for 3 year olds, 35 for aged horses.

[JT]

If that actually becomes a rule the Clegg's may go out of business

[darnoldrocks]

Harness Racer  ...  "If you look, most horses that fall or die during a race aren’t over raced.  They are lame."

 How many were B. lame and C. fell due to being A. over raced??
A + B = C

[Brown jug]

or had something illegal in their system forcing them to go faster than their body can handle

[Harness racer]

or had something illegal in their system forcing them to go faster than their body can handle

I think this is more the issue than too many starts.

[okdfool]

or had something illegal in their system forcing them to go faster than their body can handle

This is more the problem then anything else, most the starts the young ones get are going are like training trips they would go during the week anyway 🙄

[rainman2]

They will allow younger horses unlimited starts?  Seems stupid to not make it a rule for everyone.  Although I don’t agree with it at all.  If you look, most horses that fall or die during a race aren’t over raced.  They are lame and the track vet doesn’t pay attention.  Don’t make new rules, just hold the vets accountable for not doing their job.

You need less races for the younger ones to make sure they don’t go lame, breakdown, etc.

Common sense dictates the following:

2 year old.  10 starts
3 year old.  25 starts
4+ year olds. 35 starts

Because of the today’s speed, horses will only last so long. 

[Winners Win]

This a stupid rule.  I can see a 2 year old cap but to cap age horses is for show.  I have seen horses with 50+ starts a year race to retirement age of 15 sound.  Once size never fits all.

[rainman2]

This a stupid rule.  I can see a 2 year old cap but to cap age horses is for show.  I have seen horses with 50+ starts a year race to retirement age of 15 sound.  Once size never fits all.

Can they??   The answer is yes.

But how many actually get that far???

[Kole Hanover]

20 starts for 2 year olds, 25 for 3 year olds, 35 for aged horses.

 20 is way too many for a 2 yr old if going any kind of speed

 

[Hambletonian46]

Like many other do-goody initiatives, it tries to simplify an issue to a generic standard.

Number of races is only one factor, and should be much less of a factor for standardbreds as opposed to the runners. How hard they are trained, how hard they are raced, what kind of condition they are kept in, these all play a role too.  And some horses are just flat out more durable, anybody with skin in the game knows this. So 35 starts for one horse may have the same impact as 15 starts for another.

If they want to do something useful, make sure that detailed health records are maintained for every horse and have an independent vet screen each horse pre race. I know most horsemen are not in favor of this, because of the "racing sound" issue where some horses warm up a little gimpy but work out of it--these would all likely be scratched. But if you were looking for a way to preserve the horses, this would be better than an arbitrary number of starts limit.

[Late to the Paddock]

I'm all for it because there are too many unscrupulous people who do not put the welfare of the horse first. I also think this rule is another anti-HISA effort by USTA, like "look look were doing something on our own, we don't need HISA."