Aside from owning a couple of ex racehorses and being a casual racing fan I don’t really know that much about what goes into the training of racehorses.
After a yearling is started and sent to a training center, what happens if you decided for whatever reason that this colt needs more time and might not start as a 2 year old.
I see lots of horses that did not start at 2,I realize that keeping them in training is a good idea but it could get pretty pricey!
So what do normal people(non billionaires )do when they have a horse that probably won’t start at 2?
We bring them home, stick them in a field, and let them grow some more.
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Mine come home after being started to get fat, grow a little and sun bleach being out 24/7.
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I’m with the others. We put the early training into them (60 days or so) then turn them out. When they go back into training (at a training center, not the track) depends on how they mature.
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I should add that it’s a good thing when one of your horses simply spends part of its 2yo year turned out on purpose. Sometimes they stay in training and don’t race at 2 anyway.
We had a filly who was very precocious. We were eying a race in early June, then she got a shin (just one). Backed off her training until she was feeling good again, then started looking for another race (August). In the meantime, however, because she had never raced her gate card expired. When we broke her again to renew the card, she hit her stifle on the gate. More time off. Picked a race in late November. We even got her entered that time. Last work before the race she tied up when she was cooling out. Scratched her. Shipped her to her winter track. I think she made her first start in early February.
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Thanks everybody for answering,
I have another question, if you decide a horse is not a going to race at two do you still put him in training to condition him or do you just leave him in the pasture?
Sorry for all the questions but I ride some horses for a jumper rider friend, that she buys off the track for resale( I do the flatworkshe jumps) and we were just talking about this.
I know it is supposed to be better for them to at least train at 2, if not race so I was wondering what most people did.
I don’t know the exact stat, but I would bet the majority of 2 year olds don’t race. I wonder if anyone has done a study, looked up the number? Total foal crop to total number of starters out of that crop.
IMO this comes down to “different strokes for different folks”.
The studies done on early development of bone density are conclusive. The breaking down and remodeling, strengthening falls under the rule of diminishing returns with age.
I started working with ours and clients in December, sometimes November of their yearling year. By Feb-March they are galloping 1 mile ± 5 days a week. at our farm in a big field, 1 mile in circumference, grass/turf only. Turned out after training. Most generally lived out the majority of time in good weather. I also did trail work, popped them over logs and such from time to time after about 5-6 months of training. I used a mock starting gate.
IME and opinion working with them on the ground and on their back. 1 in 10± showed enough maturity and ability to consider the expense of running,hopefully running in the early 2 year old races. Like mid summer ones. But realistically more like the fall.
For me is also a lot about money management. Risk-reward. It cost a lot more to train a horse at the track then at my farm. So the majority weren’t sent to the track until late fall. When they get to the track they are ready to roll. I do not coddle them. They get plenty of “works” at the farm. I am a firm believer if a trainer does their job right a horse should never develop a “shin” buck. Esp after getting to the racetrack. This can be and is an expensive set back for the owner and trainer.
I am not one who starts them and then turns out. I’ve tried this but never thought it brought much to the table. The ones that get turned back out are the ones that didn’t show me enough to warrant the expense of sending to the track and end up starting in low level maiden claiming. This is almost always a money looser for the owner. If the horse shows anything in its first couple of starts it will get claimed in my neck of the racing woods. The owner will have $15,000 to $30,000 invested in training expenses alone. Not including the cost of breeding and or buying. So if they only show me moderate talent. I turn back out 24/7. Come back next year and re-school for sport or pleasure buyers.
All of my youngsters are started and early trained using “English” saddles, hunt saddles. The get a fair bit of flat work in our ring, learn leg and other body and voice ques. Mounted from a wall, fence, mounting blocks etc. Racing will only be a small part of their entire useful life. So I think it is important to instill the basics at a young age also.
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@DQ Foxhunter - google and read Nunamaker’s shin study, and also check out the Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database. The numbers indicate that horses that race as 2 yos stay sounder longer than those that don’t race as 2 yos. The “whys” have not been proven.
They start writing races for 2 yos in April. Most 2 yos are started on a farm or training center and sent to the track when they are ready to get a gate card, although some training centers will have days where the starter will come out to do gate cards. Location determines if they can train through the late winter to be ready for spring races.
If a horse comes up with a physical problem, the vet will determine if the horse can stay in training and if so, how hard it can train until the issue resolves. The small time trainers charge $55 a day to stay in race training at the track. The bigger outfits are more. Sometimes it’s better for the horse to stay in training in a controlled exercise program rather than being turned out and risk injury due to idiocy. You have to look at the cost of staying at the track vs. what is to gain by simply being turned out.
I see no reason to stop on a horse if it’s healthy and doing well. If the horse has a physical problem, the vet determines what happens and for how long. I see no reason to not race a 2 yo that is healthy and physically capable of withstanding training. I don’t breed or buy yearlings, so I have a pretty good idea of how good a horse is when I get it at age 2 on up.
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In the last 15 years, we’ve been pretty consistent on how we have started horses. We break them September - November of their yearling year depending on how mature they are and when their birthday was, they stay in training for approximately 2 months or up to their first one furlong breeze, then we kick them out for two to three months to allow the recovery from the bone remodeling to take place. Then we bring them back and get serious with them. All horses are different but generally they have first run as two year olds between June and November but most have been around September. Knock on wood, I have one that may start before the end of the month using this program.
Now our numbers are small to the point they may be meaningless, but in that group there are horses that have completed their careers of between 40 and 70 starts. One is scheduled to run in New York this weekend and he has over 50 starts. Of course all of these horses are homebreds where we had the luxury of control from birth and they all come from the same family. We haven’t experienced nearly the soundness in horses when we try to buy outside of our own breeding program so we might just be lucky in that regard just by starting with sounder horses. But you have to believe in something in this business and I believe in the baby break in early training. I think it makes a difference later on.
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Thank you all for your answers, I enjoyed hearing how each of you trains your babies.
By the way you guys are way nicer than the dressage forum!
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:yes:
I always, always planned to have my babies run as two year olds. Whether that actually happened or not was up to them and the racing gods. Never was a problem for me as I never had my horses ready to run in the spring of their two year old year even when things did go well but one of the problems with running and winning early is you have to wait for them to run that race five more times before there are enough other winners to make a NW2 or 1X go. You can win in April or May and sit on the shelf into July.
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Good point
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We have five two year olds this year - three colts and two fillies. They were all started in November of last year - one of them in Florida, the other four in Kentucky. Like Laurierace said, we let them tell us when they’re ready and never rush them. Our trainer is a consummate horseman who has the same philosophy, so it has worked well so far. The two fillies debuted in July and early September, respectively. It’s probably no surprise that they were the earliest foals of the bunch. One of the colts is entered for his debut this Saturday, so that’s exciting. One of the other two colts is with the trainer and will hopefully debut in October, if all goes as planned. The third colt is the biggest of the bunch and needed some extra time to grow, so he has been at the farm and will be joining our trainer at the track next week. It is certainly possible that he may not get a race until he’s three, but that’s absolutely fine with us.
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Very cool, Lots to look forward to. Strength in numbers goes a long way in helping to avoid disappointment. Good luck!
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Thank you gumtree! We are having lots of fun! No wins yet this year with this bunch of two year olds, but we do have two seconds, a third and 2 fourths out of five starts so far. So, we are definitely not complaining and really can’t wait to see how they all move forward.
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