The Hambletonian Society, which owns and administrates many of harness racing's richest and most prestigious events, held its annual meeting on Friday, August 5
, the eve of the $1.5 million Hambletonian, its crown jewel for 86 years.
Two new directors were elected to the board, and racing conditions restricting the eligibility of offspring of sires which were four-year-old stallions at the time of their conception to the Hambletonian in 2018 were approved.
Clay H. Horner of Toronto, Ont. and Adam E. Victor, Jr. of New York, NY were elected to the Hambletonian Society board, which was formed in 1924 to create the Hambletonian Stakes and encourage and support the breeding of standardbred horses through the development, administration and promotion of harness racing stakes, early-closing races and other special events.
Hambletonian Stakes No. 89 to be raced in 2014 was opened for yearling nominations on May 15, 2012.
It was also agreed that the racing conditions of Hambletonian No. 93, to be raced in 2018 would include the initiative to keep harness racing stars on the racetrack.
Foals by stallions that were four-year-olds or younger at the time of their conception will be ineligible to the Hambletonian, with the exception of foals by those sires which were retired for reasons of unsoundness or another serious medical condition which prevented racing competitively as a four-year-old.
The board also discussed adding a Hambletonian Maturity for 4-year-old trotters to its schedule of stakes beginning as early as 2014.
(With files from the Hambletonian Society)
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And what if you have a four
And what if you have a four year old that races and also breeds mares - are his foals not eligible ? They do it all the time in Europe and are eligible for the Prix d'Amerique. Seems like this is not well thought out although the objective is good.
ask Jean-Pierre Dubois, he
ask Jean-Pierre Dubois, he owns stallions that cost 35,000 euros per foal and his younger stallions are at stud duty during spring and race at the same time.
He his the european horseman and the richest of All in Europe and in the world.
It must be good.
C.Renon This may be one of
C.Renon This may be one of the dumbest rules i have heard as you are not allowing an owner or a group of owners who invest large sums of money to manage their business. This is crazy! You want to keep the stars racing longer take some of the 2 and 3 year old stake money and add it for older events. This not only will hurt the owners but the breeders and the sales.