Retired Racehorses: When Do Racehorses Meet Their Peak?
May 24, 2021
iCrowdMarketing powered by iCrowdNewswire
We all have our favourite racehorses. They are the horses who have helped us to register big wins on the ITV 7 game, horses that entertained us and horses that were tearing up the turf at the most important and memorable meets we’ve attended. However, like all good things, every horse’s running life must come to an end. There is a time when the competition is younger and faster and more popular, and it is at this point that a racehorse is forced to retire from the track. In this article we look at retired racehorses and ask when do racehorses meet their peak?Age
Race horses tend to retire aged around eight to ten years.
Health
This is one of the biggest factors that is considered when it comes to determining when a race horse has met its peak and is ready to retire. As the health of a horse starts to decline it becomes less trainable and reliable.
Injury
Regular racing has a big impact on each horse, and injuries can see a horse have to retire from its life as a runner at an earlier age than expected. Sometimes a single injury can put an end to a career, whilst in other cases it can be a long-standing injury that gets the better of the horse as it ages. Training methods can also have an impact on the type, frequency and level of injury and those trainers with less experience and knowledge can sometimes find themselves inadvertently injuring their horse through inappropriate and damaging training methods.
Loss of speed
This can happen at any age, and it can sometimes be difficult to predict whether a young horse that shows a good propensity for speed in its early years will go on to maintain the level of speed as it grows older. It is not rare to see a young horse win a handful of races when it is first on the scene, and then retire a few years later because the pace has not been maintained and the horse is no longer in the running for wins.
Money
Of course, at the heart of horse racing and the decisions made about the horses is money. Every stable and trainer is looking to produce horses that register wins. If a horse is not up to the task and is not performing to a level that is registering wins, or promising to, then the horse becomes a drain on the stable’s resources. It is important that each horse in the stable pays for itself, at the very least. The aim, of course, is for each horse to make a profit for the owners and trainers. If a horse is making a loss and costing more to keep than is being made on race day, then the stable is likely to cut its losses and retire the horse so that money can be invested in horses more likely to bring in wins.
Tags: English