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Originally Posted by Pedigree Ann
This sort of illustrates (baby steps) why I think 2-turn races before October are bad for 2yos. In the Good Old Days, nearly every major 2yo race was a 1-turn race - Breeders' Futurity (Beard course, 7f+), Kentucky Jockey Club S (8f CD chute), Remsen S (8f-Aqu chute), even the Laurel-Pimlico Futurity was a 1-turn 1 1/16 with a finish line a half-furlong beyond the normal finish line. Only the Garden State State S (disc in 1973) on the first weekend of November was a 2-turn race. Then came Oak Tree with the Norfolk (which wasn't a major race at the beginning) in mid-October. And its been downhill from there.
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I tend to agree we are pushing the young horses too much. I think that can in part explain the BC Juvenile Jinx. Yea, I know Street Sense won both the Juvenile and the Derby, but I also think he is an EXTRAORDINARY horse. I was amazed when I read Man O'War that he never raced more than 6 furlongs as a two year old. I haven't gone back and looked through
Champions pps yet to see when 2YO races started to be run at distances around two turns but it is on my list of things to do, if I were to guess I would think it was around the birth of the BC as tracks felt they had to offer "Prep" races for the Juvenile.
Just my 2 cents.