Is 3 too much ?

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by Pedigree Ann

Despite a pretty definitive study that showed that horses who raced at 2 had longer careers with more starts than horses who didn't, there is still a small but vocal number of people who contend that racing 2yos is wrong, because the animals are not mature enough.

I don't have anything against 2yo racing.

However, isn't it at least possible that those that race at 2 have longer careers due to the fact that those who don't race at 2 obviously have issues at least 98% of the time? I don't know many horses that don't race until 3 or later by design.

If it wasn't for the economics involved, as a group I think horses would be better off waiting longer to begin racing, or at the least racing less at 2. But I certainly understand that owners want to recoup some money sooner.