Recently co-owner Steve Stewart was quoted as saying that his Dan Patch Award-winning trotting mare Jiggy Jog would hopefully be on the track for years to come. As a fan of the sport, the words were music to my ears. But it was also a reminder of how many horses we never get to see past their 3-year-old campaigns. Economically it certainly makes sense to race Jiggy Jog since the 5-year-old has already earned $809,188 in 2024 through only five starts and could reasonably make at least another $500,000 before the year is done. As a broodmare, after waiting a few years for her first foal, the best you could hope to get is probably $1,000,000, and that is if she produced a perfect foal. More likely it will bring in the $500,000 to $750,000 range, still a healthy payday but less than she can make on the track, and let’s face it, what’s more fun than winning big stakes races? If we use the weekly Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown Top 10 Poll as a guide, the best two horses in Harness Racing right now are older mares, with 4-year-old pacer Twin B Joe Fresh occupying the top spot and Jiggy Jog second. The remainder of the list is filled with horses that are 2- or 3-year-olds. Recent history says this is the norm, with mares and freshmen/sophomores ranking as the best while older males are nowhere to be found. Over the last five years, when the final tabulation was done for the poll after all stakes races were in the books, only seven male horses have occupied a spot in the Top 10. Taking a closer look at the group of seven horses who raced well enough to reach the top 10 and decided not to retire after their 3-year-old seasons, two – Bythemissal and Allywag Hanover – are geldings, two others – Tattoo Artist and Bulldog Hanover – really didn’t have strong enough credentials to retire as top stallions after their 3-year-old season, and Ecurie D was brought over from Europe as an older horse to race here. So that leaves us with Bettor’s Wish and Gimpanzee as the only legitimate 3-year-old colts who elected to return to the races for their 4-year-old campaigns. We of course have the Stallion Restriction Rule (Gural Rule) in place which states a horse must race as a 4-year-old or his first crop is not eligible to compete in certain stakes at The Meadowlands, Tioga and Vernon. While good in theory, one has to wonder how many horses are really taking it into account when only two 3-year-old colt millionaires in the last five years returned to race. For the record, Beach Glass also tried to come back and Perfect Sting was medically excused from the mandate. Four others – Confederate, Tactical Approach, Pebble Beach and Tall Dark Stranger elected to retire. ► If you want to read articles like this first, sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter According to co-owner and trainer Chris Ryder, the Gural Rule played no role in deciding whether Bettor’s Wish, who won 13 of 19 races and earned $1.6 million as a 3-year-old, would return to the races. Additionally, the gamble paid off since the son of Bettor’s Delight was named the 2020 Dan Patch winner as older male pacer with $685,432 earned. Bettor’s Wish was the exception to the rule as he did double duty and bred 58 mares before racing in 2020, and despite the large total in the earnings column, he wasn’t going to demand a high enough stud fee to make retirement mandatory. “If you come back as a 4-year-old the expectation is that you might not have as good of a record and you’ll cheapen your stud value,” said Ryder, who originally stood Bettor’s Wish for $10,000 in New Jersey and now has him in Pennsylvania for $7,500 through Diamond Creek Farm. “If he had won the Meadowlands Pace and gotten the same wins that Confederate had, we wouldn’t have raced him as a 4-year-old.” In some ways perhaps Bettor’s Wish was an anomaly in that he earned a large sum of his money finishing second in races like the North America Cup, Meadowlands, Pace, Messenger and Breeders Crown. Ultimately it all worked out as from his small first crop he has produced Kentucky Sire Stakes champion Better Is Nice ($924K, 1:48) and Adios runner-up Wish You Well ($427K, 1:49 1/5) among five who have earned over $250K. “We are pretty pleased with the Bettor’s Wish’s at the moment. He’s having a good run,” said Ryder. Gimpanzee is a completely different animal in terms of his 3-year-old success and decision to return the following year. He certainly had the credentials as a winner of the Yonkers Trot and Breeders Crown as a sophomore but still chose to remain on the track. According to co-owner Ander Ström (Courant Inc.), there were a number of factors at play, none of which were the Gural Rule. “Gimpanzee raced until late as a 3-year-old and he had much left in the tank when the season closed,” said Ström. “We had discussions on taking him to Europe for the season after. Eventually we decided to stay and race as a 4-year-old in North America since the race program for these horses had improved. It was not a clear cut decision, had Solvalla offered a good flight itinerary to Elitloppet, I think we would have taken that option instead. “We wanted to make sure Gimpanzee could serve enough mares per season before syndicating him and that decision has now proven to be right, with the interest we had in the syndication and the high number of mares he breeds standing at Diamond Creek. In hindsight we probably increased the value of the horse slightly, including the purses won (almost $1m in 11 starts at 4) and the limited number of breedings we sold the first seasons, but it has to be said, Gimpanzee was a special case.” Gimpanzee made his connections look great by capturing the Hambletonian Maturity, Cashman Memorial, Caesars Trotting Classic and Breeders Crown as part of a Dan Patch Trotter of the Year season. Regardless, Ström feels that beefing up the stakes program for 4-year-olds even further would be a welcome addition. “Personally I would favor more big stakes races for 4-year olds, so there are even better incentives for the good horses to race for one more season,” said Ström. “I am keen to breed on talent, but a great young horse that can show longevity and soundness by winning at 4 is even better.” Going back a 10 years, Captaintreacherous returned to the races after one of the most dominant seasons by a 3-year-old. He won just over $2 million while winning 13 of 16 starts as a sophomore. According to racing manager Myron Bell, the Gural rule was the only reason the horse was brought back for another year. “Like all good horses they only have a certain amount of races in them. His blood count wasn’t good at 4 so we only raced him sparingly. He only had like seven starts and he wasn’t at the top of his game,” said Bell, who ultimately syndicated Captaintreacherous for $12 million despite him only winning two of seven starts while earning $175K as a 4-year-old. “[Hanover Shoe Farm] only bought 15% based on $12 million and the rest we syndicated among the best breeders in the country. The farms just want the rights so they can get 12 free breedings, though some of them get 18. Hanover’s 15% was 18 breedings and then they got 12 free, so they had 30 total.” Individual shares of Captaintreacherous sold for $120,000 and went up to $150,000 at one point. Now at age 14, Bell says the shares are still worth six figures. “When you have a horse of that magnitude it is all timing,” said Bell on the need to retire the best 3-year-olds. “It is like Karl, how much more value could he add by racing? Not much.” With all the above said, how do we get a top stallion prospect to consider racing as a 4-year-old and turn down $10-$12 million? The answer is we can’t. As my daughter would say, the math doesn’t math. Yes, in theory if a 3-year-old comes back and earns $1,000,000 the following year the return on investment works financially, but what happens if they lay an egg as a 4-year-old as breeders sour on his ability? Does the syndication go away? Does it decrease from $100,000 a share to $75,000 a share and cost the owner $3,000,000? There is the “love of the game” argument, but that simply ignores the money aspect of the game. Basically an owner brings the horse back because they like to race. It happens, but we certainly can’t rely on it. “Some people just want the champion horse and the fun of going to the races with their partners,” said Nikola Ryder. Is there a purse amount that could be offered which would lure a horse back? On the pacing end, what if we took the William Haughton Memorial at The Meadowlands in July, the Dan Patch at Harrah’s Hoosier Park in August, the Canadian Pacing Derby at Woodbine Mohawk Park in September, the Breeders Crown in October and the Fanduel Championships at The Meadowlands in November and made it special jackpot series. Any 4-year-old who wins all five races gets a $2,000,000 bonus. Certainly that is something that could be insured. The odds have to be long, but isn’t that a nice carrot on the end of a stick to entice a horse to try? Consider that the top-earning pacer on average over the last four years has accumulated just over $1,000,000 in earnings. This would provide an opportunity to triple that number. Maybe there can even be a consolation prize of $200,000 ($50,000 put up by each track) for any 4-year-old that competes in all five and wins four. Are we likely to convince an owner to take a shot and race their top 3-year-old the following year? Maybe not. But at least maybe they’ll give it a second thought if there is more incentive to show up on the track.