The thing that justindew takes for granted is that Mine That Bird would have run the same schedule at 2 had a rule been in place excluding synthetic earnings for entry into the Kentucky Derby. All his races at 2 were on synthetics. If any of his connections were "thinking Derby", would they have run him on dirt at some point? Possibly. Definitely if we're talking about horses in a similar boat like Lookin At Lucky and Pioneerof The Nile. What an added bonus that would be, competitive 2yo stakes. No more 5-horse Remsens, no more Champagnes or Hopefuls where the loftiest credential of any of the starters is a maiden special weight victory.
Furthermore, why is January 1st some sort of arbitrary cutoff prior to which earnings shouldn't count? The basic reason why quality horses are raced at 2 is to prepare for the classics the following spring. Encouraging trainers to start later and thereby shorten the time period they have to train/race their horses to be able to negotiate 10f in May would only serve to increase the physical pressure already heaped on young racehorses.
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04-21-2011, 09:31 AM
Hybrid Mode
