Why cant a horse go from SC to Flats?

[MJM_RACING]

Ok…ok I know its posted and understood that once a horse makes a move to the fences he/she will remain a SteepleChase runner for the rest of his/her racing career. My only question is why?
In the United States at least I have seen many horses that have gone from the Flats to the Fences and then back to the Flats.

Just wondering why the strict rule and/or if this issue has been considered in the past.

I apologize if there is a thread already containing my question, I was unable to find any questions similar to mine…
Thanks

[Mintano]

From the FAQ:

You can’t. Just like in real life, when horses switch to steeplechasing, they switch for good. (Well, in real life, they generally start at SC and stay there, but that’s irrelevant).

In FF, switching to steeplechase is permanent. Once you switch a horse to SC, you can continue to race it over fences, or you can retire your horse from racing.

Some times horses are switched back to flat racing but generally it is a pretty rare occurence. Usually the professional SC circuit don’t allow it as far as I know.

[Lisa_Perri]

The SC circuit does allow it and many horses actually do go back and forth…a flat race can prep a jump horse for their next jump race…just my two cents

[Andrea]

The historical reason for this in FF is that the original program used to run races physically changed the horse’s stats upon switching the horse to Steeplechasing and didn’t track the original flat stats.  However, I’m not sure that that’s a limit that’s still in place, so potentially that’s something Shanthi might consider changing.  I don’t know that it really makes too much of a difference to me, but there is a computer-oriented reason for the initial limitation.

[ThoroughbredLover]

I bought a SC racer by accident and I really wish I could have changed him back to to flat racing.  I think that would be a nice thing to change.

[Sorceress_Edea]

Hmm… I almost like this idea too.  There are horses that have been switched that I bought and thought ‘This horse was definitely a flat racer’

And then there are the times we want to know if a horse would be good on SC.  I know Shanthi was thinking at one point about making that a workout thing, but it might be easier, if the computer-related problems could be overcome, to be able to switch back and forth.

[CascadeJade]

Being able to switch back and forth might solve the problem of there being very few SC races at some parts of the year(like right now) so you can race your SC’er year round even if he’s usually better at SC. This might also make SC fields more competitive than they often are b/c right now people aren’t as apt to switch since its permanent.

[Degs74]

I think horses should be able to be switched back to flat.
Over here we have a top steeplechaser called Detroit City , who switched back to flat to win the Cesarewatch last year