Is 3 too much ?

[miraja2]

First of all I really don't think the idea of having 2yos run a route of ground has anything to do with the Breeders Cup. The Norfolk has been run at 8.5 furlongs since 1970 and the Remsen has been run at 9f since 1973...etc. etc.
So 2yos were certainly running in stakes races at 8.5 furlongs and beyond well before 1984.
And how was it affecting them?
Well if you look at the Kentucky Derby winners from 1978-1983 (the six years right before the BC started) all six of them ran in stakes races going at least 8.5 furlongs or longer as 2yo. All six of them. Three of those six (Sunny's Halo, Pleasant Colony, and Genuine Risk) were stakes winners at 9f during their 2yo campaigns. It doesn't exactly seem like their 3yo campaigns were ruined does it?
If you look more recently, you see the exact same thing. The last three winners of the Kentucky Derby also ALL ran in stakes races going 8.5 furlongs as a 2yo.
Now, I am not one of those people who buys into those ridiculous "Derby angles" which say a horse MUST race a certain number of times at age two in order to have a chance to win the Derby. Those angles are all crap, and the Derby is just one example anyway. The point is that racing at 8.5f or beyond as a 2yo certainly does not - before or after the BC started - damage a horse's chance at having a good 3yo season.