Small Fields

I have read a couple of articles today about the abundance of small fields. Not only are the stakes races having short fields, but claiming races are suffering as well. The solutiuon I am hearing (from industry people) is to decrease the number of races per card and to decrease the number of races days during the week. Here are some interesting numbers. The average horse makes 6.45 starts per year. This is the lowest number ever recorded by the Jockeys Club. In 1995, horses made an average of 7.94 per year. The average number of starts per horse has decreased in each year since 1995. To compare different eras, in 1960 the average number of starts was 11.31. To me decreasing the number of racing days per week coupled with a decrease in the number of races per card is a start. But I think the problem is much more complex. I think breeding unsound horses contributes to the small fields, as well as trainers being able to pick their spots. But one factor that I think is the new medication laws. This point is very well made in the courier journal today and I agree 100%. It used to be that a trainer could make a last minute decision to run a horse in a race that might have come up weak, but now with the new medication laws they dont have that luxury. I do think racing needs to do something about the problem of small fields, but decreasing the number of race days and number of races on a card isnt going to solve the problem.

This is just my opinion--anyone else care to chime in!!!