Should 2yo's race before their second birthday?

Question

ignore all that about jan 1st.

Answer 1

Most two year olds don't actually make it to the racecourse before they are two.  Two year old races do not start running until March/April and by this time of year the vast majority of TB foals have been born.

There are some horses that will run before they are 2yos but normally only a matter of weeks before.

Answer 2

Well it would be the breeders fault for not making the foal be delivered early ??

so JAN1 st does come in to play .

So No i do not

But they do not write 2 yr olds races until around June ,,

So if you have a problem getting the mare bred early he should be raced at 3 yrs

Answer 3

I'm going to answer this question by asking you one of my own- with some qualifications. A two year old horse, or a horse that is close to that age, is equivalent in its physical and mental development to a 6 YEAR OLD HUMAN CHILD. This is true REGARDLESS of what breed the animal is or comes from. If you would not ask a 6 year old kid to run a race of up to a mile with a hundred pounds strapped to his or her back, then why, in Heaven's Name, would you do this to a young horse, pal??? Think about that for a moment. We don't ask children to do things like run races on dirt tracks with hundred pound weights strapped to their bodies because they likely would be KILLED by the effort- not to mention the fact that they would most likely get badly injured in the process. But we have no reservations AT ALL about demanding that a young, physically immature Thoroughbred, whose bones are still soft and growing, do this. Why?? M-O-N-E-Y !!! GREED !!!

NO horse which is that age or younger is fit to RUN ANY RACE, if you ask me and most of the professional horsepeople I have worked with in my life- they are just TOO YOUNG !!! This is the reason WHY WE keep seeing these senseless, horrific, catastrophic breakdowns in major races- it's probably been at LEAST 5 years since I can remember a time when I DIDN'T hear of a horse breaking down and dying in a major stakes race somewhere in the US or in the rest of the racing world at some point, whether once a month, or once a year. . I don't believe that nonsense that some people on here are saying about how racing supposedly helps young horses develop better and live healthier lives- that's a bunch of BS which is based on bad science. I have known and worked around too many young ex-racehorses ( we currently have a 4 year old TB living on our farm, who only narrowly avoided euthanasia because he supposedly couldn't run fast enough, and his owners didn't consider him to be worth keeping or feeding) who suffered serious, career ending, often life threatening injuries to ever believe that early race training is beneficial to a horse in any way. On the contrary, IT RUINS HORSES, both physically and mentally, at least in my experience. I have seen young horses with bowed tendons, busted suspensory ligaments, bucked shins, and even hairline or stress fractures in their legs- and most of these injuries came about as a direct result of the race training that they went through as BABIES. It's not a pleasant sight to see a 3 year old horse which can do no more than hobble around a double wide stall on three legs, because of a bowed tendon or busted suspensory ligament. I have had that unfortunate experience- and more like it.

No, I don't believe 2 year old horses should race- in fact, I would love to see that part of the sport banned for good, and the racing age RAISED to 4 for the baby races and 5 for the graded stakes. That simple move alone would give these babies a chance to mature and become strong before they are asked to do hard work- and it would save the LIVES OF TENS OF THOUSANDS of racehorses every year. It would also have a trickle down effect on the rest of the racing industry, because it would reduce the incentive which owners and breeders currently have to sell horses as yearlings, and also force breeders to think LONG TERM about their animals' futures, rather than just looking at making a quick buck in a couple of years. That would mean wiser choices in the breeding shed, which in turn would have the effect of helping to stop the chronic overbreeding and inbreeding which has become bane of racing's existance right now. We are only just STARTING TO SEE the consequences of DECADES of poor breeding decisions right now- and one of the worst side effects of this is that the gene pool has shrunk to about half of what it once was. Eight Belles, the filly who died in the Derby, has been quite rightly described by some of the experts who testified about racing safety in Congress a week or so ago as a "genetic disaster waiting for a chance to happen" because she was so extremely inbred. Big Brown, who failed so miserably at the Belmont, is another example of an extremely inbred horse- and in his case, the only reason he did as well as he did early on is because of the performance enhancing steroids his trainer was giving him every month or so. Had it not been for the drugs, I doubt that horse would have done very much. Now that he's off the drugs, it's just going to be a matter of time before HE breaks down too- he comes from the same family and genetic stock that Eight Belles did. Every time Big Brown steps out of his stall to do anything, his owners are taking a big risk that he won't return in one piece, or even return ALIVE !! People are saying he's a great horse- but running on drugs HARDLY qualifies him as that. If he were a baseball player, he'd have been suspended or fired a long time ago.

There are only so many ways you can slice the genetic pie before you are going have problems with the same hereditary defects showing up over and over again- and this has become an issue in Thoroughbred breeding, and it will continue to be one far into the future, as more and more horses pay the price for peoples' poor judgement with their LIVES. Raising the racing age would help to change this, because there would be less incentive to breed only for speed, and much more of one to breed for soundness, strength, and durability. There was a time once, decades ago, when Thoroughbred horses were greatly in demand in other sports besides racing, because they were so fast, strong, and durable. Not so any more, I am sorry to say- the American Thoroughbred has been replaced by the Warmblood breeds, because those horses are so much more durable and so much easier to ride and train.  That's heartbreaking and sad, and it's a testament to just how much the racing and breeding industries have been influenced and altered by greed and the pursuit of the almighty dollar. The only possible justification for racing a two year old horse is to try to recoup some of the enormous costs involved in producing the animal in the first place. Other than this, there is no good reason to do it- and plenty of reasons NOT TO DO THIS.

Feel free to disagree if you wish, or give me thumbs down- I could care less. These horses are young BABIES WHICH ARE DYING so that we can have a couple minutes of entertainment. Racing as a whole is a sport which desperately needs to change and be made more humane and safe- for everyone's sake.

Enough said.

Answer 4

Luckily they dont have to because almost all horses in United States (practices in other countries are different) are born before April 30, and two year old races usually take place after that date. I personally dont think they should run as a weanling because the horses are such fragile animals that if you push it to hard as a youngster they can buck there shins, chip there ankles, etc.

Answer 5

If they race before their second birthday they won't be 2 years old yet.

Answer 6

Developmentally, they probably wouldn't be ready to race before their second birthday.  A horse has to be physically and mentally ready for a race... being less than 2 years old, a horse probably wouldn't be mature enough to handle a race.  Furthermore, horses are bred to be born early in the year so that they will have their second birthday in the spring.  Usually a two year old doesn't start in the races until summer or fall so the vast majority of racing two year olds are actually two years old.

To directly answer your question, yes, two year olds should be allowed to race before their second birthday.  It's the trainers job to make sure the horse is trained and ready for the race.  It's not going to race until it's actually ready.  If a horse is ready but happens to be 1 year 11 months old, it should still be allowed to race.

Statistics show that horses who race early in their careers go on to have fuller sounder healthier careers than horses who wait to race until they're older.  It's good for a horse to exercise while it develops rather than growing up first and then starting exercise.

I used to think it would be better to race horses later, but then I heard many respectable vets opinions and all of them agreed that research shows that racing horses earlier helps them.  It has to be proper exercise of course... it has to be reasonable within the horses development... but appropriate exercise is a good thing for a young horse.

Answer 7

Yes.  They're teenagers, they're built to run, and they're bred to mature early.  We let teenage kids play football, which is far more punishing to the body; we let preteens do gymnastics, where injuries are far more common than in horseracing.

Horses started at two have a much lower rate of disastrous breakdown than those started at four, probably because they've spent their growing years working out.

Given the enormous cost of keeping a horse for an extra year or two, and given the fact that they don't break down more often at 2 then at 3, 4, or more, I say go for it.

Now all the anti racing folks can get a thumb workout!

:)