A thoroughbred horse is considered to have reached it's full maturity at the approximate age of 4.5 years of age. Their physical growth of muscle and bones for the majority of thoroughbreds is done. If you have a 4yo horse in your stable, you may have noticed improvement in their races (if properly handled and placed by the O/T) from the first part of the year and continued improvement through the Fall. The horse is coming near to or already has it's fully developed horse physique.
If you have a 3yo, one thing that you have undoubtedly noticed about racing them in the Fall is the lack of races that are restricted to 3yo's. This restriction 3yo's have enjoyed for the first eight months of the year is very hard to find. The reason being that a 3yo is now considered an older horse, even though physically it has room to grow for the next year before it has fully matured. This is not to say that late in the year 3yo's cannot run with or win against the older horses they now have to face, they do, but a majority of 3yo's for one reason or another, are at a dis-advantage.
If you have a new stable with 3yo's in it, or you have 3yo's that have been idle (out of racing) for a period of time due to injury or a lay-off, then again you may have a 3yo that has had a hard time running with and winning against it's 3yo peers. You may want to consider keeping them out of racing till they turn 4yo in January, so as to give them a chance physically to catch-up to the older competitors it now have to face for the rest of it's racing carreer.
If you have 3yo's that have already proven themselves against older horses or has shown ability and class superiority over it's 3yo peers, by all means now is not the time to stop racing them. For a 3yo horse may be showing it's peak form now and for some this might be their lifetime best peak performance.
This is where you as an O/T make the decision that would be best for your horse, this is a responsible act.
As you know, 2yo's run in restricted company, only amongst other 2yo's. 3yo's enjoy this same restriction until later in their 3yo season, except for maybe a few stakes races through the summer where they are invited. So the shift to running against older horses may be a drastic one, especially if they are coming from a lay-off or just starting their carreer. Also, you may find that dropping your horse in class might help it's chances in winning.
Whatever you decide....remember; We are very fortunate to have the opprotunity to make decisions like this and not having the wrong choice reflect in our real-life pocketbooks as it would for "real-life" horse trainers and owners.
This Is As Real As It Gets!
Good Luck!
