[Honu]

I was reading a book about Hollywood Park the other day ( a very interesting read) flipping thru the pages I noticed a section about the 1937 Derby winner and the 1937 Preakness winner having a rematch race is some stake the first or second year of Hollywood opening. As fate would have it the race didnt materialize because the winner of the Preakness bowed 2 days before the race but they didnt let the public in on it because it drew a crowd, it was announced hours before the race after the grandstand was full that the Preakness winner was scratched. The Derby winner went onto win the race but bowed shortly after . To me it is pretty apparant that horses werent that sturdy back then either , of course you had your freaks like Citation who ran 17 times a 2 yr old and so forth but all in all horses retired as late 3 yr olds and early 4 yr olds to stud just like they do now.
The biggest diffirence between now and then is the information highway, back then not every tom , dick , and harry sports writer had access to the backside let alone interviews with trainers on a daily basis. They didnt have computers and satellite radio shows with which to broadcast all the pitfalls of racing like they do now. I think if people go back and look at just the Triple Crown competitors of days gone by you might see that alot, not just a few horses that competeted in those races didnt race with much success or at all as 4 and 5 yr olds.