No less than Man O' War himself started his career on June 6th, then ran back on the 9th, then the 21st, then the 23rd, then the 5th of July. He started his career with 5 races inside 4 weeks.
He was then rested until early August. In August he ran on the 2nd, 13th, 23rd and 30th. After his loss in the Sanford, (Aug 13) he wasn't sent to the farm, seen by a battalion of vets or handwalked for 6 weeks. He was back in 10 days and never lost again.
How about Old Rosebud, who ended his career with 40 wins from 80 (!) starts. At two he ran in early FEB and early MAR. He was rested and shipped from Juarez to KY where he ran 6 times in May, including starts on the 1st, 17th (layoff?) 19th, 23rd, 26th and 31st. This clearly knocked him for a loop as he only raced 3 times in June. All this was in his 2yo year. Too bad he was ruined and could only go 2 for 3 at 3 including an 8 length win in the Derby. (He was up the track in the Withers, at the time a VERY important race and then was off for almost 3 years but he came back and raced 'til age 11.)
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RIP Monroe.
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