Let’s start fresh! Actually, I don’t want to completely revamp the stakes schedule as much as I want to shift the focus slightly down the road just a bit while keeping the bones in place. Currently Standardbred stakes racing commences right around the end of June for 2-year-olds and extends in an age-restricted fashion into August of a horse’s 4-year-old season. An elite 2-year-old can be expected to average between 9-12 starts, while 3-year-olds typically check in the range of 16-18 starts and 4-year-olds are somewhat all over the place since many of the best 3-year-olds elect for the breeding shed over a third year of on-track action. I completely understand the decision behind retiring a colt after their sophomore campaign to reap the rewards of a stallion career, but what if we pivoted the schedule to make racing one more year slightly more enticing while also filling a bit of a hole in the harness racing stakes calendar? The plan would see the number of sire stakes legs for 2-year-olds cut by at least 25% and push back the start of sire stakes racing for that age group until the end of July or start of August depending on the state. In New York, using 2017 pacing colts as an example, the first two legs of the series (7/12 & 7/24) would’ve been cut with August 2 serving as the new launch date. The remainder of the year and the entire 3-year-old schedule would remain intact. The reduction of the two dates for 2-year-olds in the example above would result in an additional $218,598 (just from the pacing colts) in Sire Stakes purse money being available. That money, and hopefully more can be allocated, would fund a new 4-year-old series. Ultimately I’d like to see horses compete in four preliminary legs from mid to late January through February with a final for the top 8 point earners slated for the end of the second month. There could be a leg at Buffalo, one at Saratoga and a couple at Yonkers. Perhaps some additional shuffling of money would need to occur, but I believe the benefits are huge. ► Less wear and tear on 2-year-olds allowing them to be fresher for later in their career ► Added possibility of getting a good 3-year-old to stay in training and racing as a 4-year-old ► Removal of 2-year-old races which typically handle poorly for more palatable 4-year-old races Obviously the schedule would need to work differently in various states. In Pennsylvania with only one track open through mid March, maybe the series starts then and runs through the end of April. The idea is simply to provide a 4-year-old with the opportunity to race and earn against his peers as much as possible while perhaps offering some interesting races at a time during the year when we have nothing but overnight racing. Personally I wouldn’t mind the 2-year-old sire stakes being cut in half instead of quartered, but I think that would be too drastic a change for the yearling market. I could also live with these 4-year-old races being offered at various points in the year; perhaps four legs scattered from March through August with a final scheduled in September in each state. Or if my plan seems too complex, how about taking the $218K (or whatever the savings are in each state) and making one dash-for-the-cash 4-year-old race for statebreds? Let’s look at this scenario. If The Meadows has a 4-year-old pacing horse sire stakes race in mid-February 2018 worth $337,508 (the amount saved by cancelling the first 2 legs for 2-year-olds), would that be enticing enough to lure Downbytheseaside to hang around for one more start? Couldn’t he simply race one more time and then report for stallion duty in March? At the very least that gives us a race to look forward to earlier in the season. And maybe having that extra opportunity along with the current offering of the Confederation Cup, Graduate series and a couple of others is enough to make racing another year viable. Just to throw another thought out there . . . whether we take the money from the 2-year-olds or not . . . why doesn’t every state simply have a sire stakes race for 4-year-olds and up on their Night of Champions? Certainly we can find enough money to fund one more final to support those veteran campaigners from every locale. After all, you don’t stop being a NY, NJ, IND, OH, PA, etc. bred after your 3-year-old season. You can take the horse out of NY but you can’t take the NY out of the horse.