Two Year Olds, Passports, and other Thoughts...

Okay so this post was going to be titled "Two Year Olds Try to Navigate 16 Furlongs"; however, it has turned itself into an Editoral about many other things. Forgive the tangents that go off of this article, my mind is 100 places right now. I do hope that when reading this you will be able to find some sort of entertaining/thoughtful thread that will make it worth reading.






On February 2, 2010 (game time) 20 two year old colts and fillies will try to navigate two miles at Shenandoah Downs. They will race around the oval track not once but twice in February. They will be asked to go further than most horses ever will, and for some this will be their first starts.


There are only 17 races 1,142 that ask a horse to go 2 miles. 17 for the entire year. This Starter Allowance is the first of the year, and trainers are asking their young two year olds if they can go around the track twice. It is unthinkable. Most horses will not be able to do well at this distance when the are at their peaks. But in February, a two year old is not ready to handle 16 furlongs.

23 stables have entered their 2 year olds with 27 entrants. Not all will race this saturday, but all their owners thought that they should have a shot at trying to find their way through all 16 furlongs. It is a duanting task for any horse - let alone a young 2 year old.



People say that they want reality for Photo-Finish - what with the sending horses around the globe in less than 2 weeks. However, we must look at the realism of sending a 2 year old to the post for a race that is 16 furlongs. I do not claim to be an expert on real life horse racing, but I have to believe that in February most two year olds would not be ready to race - let alone trying for 16 furlongs.


I do know some trainers that have been hesitant to send their 3 year olds to the Kentucky Derby, because they believed that May was too early to send their 3 year olds at 10 furlongs (granted KYD would be run at the very highest levels).

If you want some real life examples - 2006 American Champion 2 Year old Street Sense. As most of you know, Street Sense won the BC Juvenile in 2006 and in 2007 went on to win the Kentucky Derby.

His first race came in July 9, 2006 in a madien at 6 furlongs where he came home second. His next race was at 6.5 furlongs and was also a madien which he won. I might also note that Street Sense raced only 5 times in as many months as a young juvenile - his lowest time between races was 22 days. So REST is something that these trainers also keep in mind.

However, there may be another reason why these trainer's are so keen on sending out their juvenile racers to this particular race. It is the first race in the Global Classic Challenge which is a contest for the top 2 year old classic racer. There are big prizes to be won from this challenge which could offset the cons for entering this race.

I do not wish to step on anyone's toes. But there have been some heated discussions on the forum talking about realism of travel time - to me this is the bigger problem. We do not have enough races on the card to make "Time/Region Zones" for some horses. Some horses can only compete at 5-6 furlongs on dirt. Which makes it very hard for some trainer's to find a full schedule for them. If "Racing Passports" were put into effect, I have to believe that this job will be that much harder.

It would also mean that G1 horses may trickle down the slopes in the G2/G3 races - just because it fits their schedule and trainer's not wanting to/can't send them to another contitent. Some people have argued that this is the problem - sending G1 horses around the globe to compete in every $1 million + race. Yes, it is a bit disheartening to see the same G1 horse compete in every big race; however, to a smaller stable who has a string of G2-G3 horses it would be devastating to see that same G1 caliber horse entered in the $150,000 G2 race.

Wouldn't it be better to have the top caliber horses racing against eachother? Until we have enough races to off-set this, then I do not see how Passports will be feasable for smaller stables.

Like I said above, I have gotten on a bit of tanget and I hope that you will excuse me.

Getting back to the two year olds, I for one will be watching their race to see how these youngsters fare. To see who has anything close to fast fractions in the last mile or so....

--------------------------

Click on the Global Mail link to read an excellent article about the horses entered in this race.

--------------------------

Matt's Notable Mention: I would love to hear feedback from trainer's about their thoughts on 2 year olds and 2 mile races - esp. those who have 2 year olds entered in this race.

Also, thoughts on Passports as well... seeing as how I did get on a bit of a tangent.

Also, here is my disclaimer. I do not mean to offend anyone by my posts. I am just telling one man's opinion. I apologize if I have offended someone, please do not take these comments personally. If anyone would like to contridict me on anything, I would love to hear it and you could write an article that will be published unedited.