So much for horses needing 4 to 5 weeks rest

[Scurlogue Champ]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

Plenty do but it doesn't effect the way they are campaigned when they do come back. Actually the horses that stay in training tend to be the ones raced more frequently even when the horses that had their vacation come back.

I suspect it is because most vacations are taken out of necessity (injury), not just letting the horse down.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by moodwalker

I suspect it is because most vacations are taken out of necessity (injury), not just letting the horse down.

No, I'm thinking of stakes horses the past couple years that have been given a break all winter. Most of the top stakes horses that don't go to Dubai wait until May or June to comeback. Then they wind up making four or five starts the rest of the year if they are lucky. The horses that stay in training that stay healthy wind up racing more than 4 or 5 times from May on despite never getting a vacation. In the case of Sun King I highly doubt he will race anymore between May and October than he did last year despite getting the winter off this year and staying in training last year.

[Riot]

Think it is more of a matter of "work" them up to a race, rather than race them into shape in the US?

[Pedigree Ann]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

No, I'm thinking of stakes horses the past couple years that have been given a break all winter. Most of the top stakes horses that don't go to Dubai wait until May or June to comeback. Then they wind up making four or five starts the rest of the year if they are lucky. The horses that stay in training that stay healthy wind up racing more than 4 or 5 times from May on despite never getting a vacation. In the case of Sun King I highly doubt he will race anymore between May and October than he did last year despite getting the winter off this year and staying in training last year.

Back in the days of Secretariat and Forego, major racing on the East Coast was over in early November (Aqueduct ran to the end of the month, but the big races were earlier). Hollywood Park had no fall meeting except for trotters, Oak Tree was oriented towards turf horses and late-developing 2yos. Most horses who had been part of championship-type campaigns got at least a couple of months off, often more - Secretariat didn't come back until March of his 3yo year (still got in 3 races before the Derby, spaced at 2 weeks, the typical spacing for the time). Others showed up at Hialeah or Santa Anita in mid-January. Late starters, like Majestic Prince who didn't debut until November (I think) at Bay Meadows ran consistently through the winter and spring.

Only the rare horse could keep racing through the fall and winter and still be competitive in the spring classics, horses like my hero Jim French, a gritty little horse who thrived on racing. If only Canonero's plane had gotten stuck a bit longer, Jim-boy would have won the Kentucky Derby, since he ran second to the Venezuelan shipper.