"Spaced" Races And "Fresh" Horses Are Killing The Sport

[Assttodixie]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

Lawyer Ron's 2 year old campaing was not what it seems. It took him 6 races to break his maiden. When you're dropping back and making a little late run to come in 3rd in a maiden race, that's not going to take that much out of a horse.

I think that First Samurai's 2 year old campaign was just as demading as LR even though FS only ran 5 times total. FS was competing at the highest level and winning every race. He won his first 4 races in a row and then ran 3rd in the BC Juvenille. That was a tough campaign. Two different times he came back on only 3 weeks rest after really hard races. When a horse is running really hard and winning at the highest level, that's going to probably take a lot more out of a horse than running 5th in a maiden race.

Dixie says history is littered with horses that ran much more than four times in a row as two year olds and stuck around for seasons 3,4,5 and beyond. You keep saying that things have changed. But what has changed? Is there any emprical data out there can prove this change?