Quite a coincidence re: 5 year old first time starters

[majxmom]

Don't forget it's January, and there's a lot of recently-4yo maidens out there that would still like to win a race.

Also, the condition book may be changing in reaction to a drop in available horses. I remember listening to the rundown on the PA system at Pleasanton in the '80s, and hearing that there were 126 horses excluded from the overnight for a maiden race. If you had a five year old maiden, he had no chance whatsoever of running, because the racing secretary was never going to write a maiden race for four years old and up when he had 126 horses excluded on a three year old maiden race. If you lost your date for anything, you were out until the end of the meet.

Now, they are crying for entries. So we've had 3-and-up and 4-and-up maidens for years. It fills the entry box, but you rarely see one win. I entered a 5yo maiden myself once, and she never ran better than third. It's like trying to make a 30 year couch potato become an athlete. It would take a special personality to make the effort.

[Tiz]

If, for reasons not related to injury, Secretariat didn't start until his 5 year old year, he would have been useless? I really don't believe that.

A five year old horse is more akin to a 15 or 16 year old human, then a "30 year couch potato." And horses that aren't standing in stalls on some backside, actually get quite a bit of exercise, so I don't understand the negativity about older first time starters.

[Tairaterces]

There was a 9yo first time starter entered this week at Mountaineer, ended up a vet scratch.



Note: Just checked. Not a first time starter. First start was in March 2008, which made him an 8yo FTS. Has had 6 starts, $382.00, all at Mountaineer.

[Fair Play]

We raise late maturing stock; we don't usually even start to break them until they're three. Often they don't start until they're 4; but in those cases they haven't actually been in training any longer than a 2YO starter... they just had a lot more time to run around in the field, be horses, and mature before they were asked to do anything.

We sent 4 horses to a "trainer" who ended up causing two of them to not race until they were 5 (LATE 5, at the end of last year,) one not to be able race at all (just got this news; he's been at the track in training and is a 5YO now,) and one who is on her way to the track today after being RE-broke. We'll see what she does this year... yep, as a 5YO.

All of these had no mental or physical issues, none were injured, none were sore, none were conformationally challenged... they just ended up with the wrong person. It happens a lot more often than you'd think, unfortunately.

We have too. Sometimes it is a case of an owner/trainer concentrating on client's horses with limited stalls, and a hundred other reasons. I have never had an older maiden run on three legs. If they are that conformationally or soundness challenged, they are not even started for the track sometimes.

It is a different world when people breed commercially and put youngsters through sales. We have never bought a yearling that didn't run at 2 or 3, but have had plenty of homebreds not run til 4 and even a few at 5. It is a matter of priorities sometimes. When I was riding, I rode an 8 yr old maiden on a B track. The owner noticed his kid's pony out worked a horse he broke off to work so entered him. He won first time out.