what is the latest age of horse you would start?

[erhrdt3]

Hi friends and Happy Holidays,

I love all the wisdom on this forum so therefore I ask: what is/would be the latest in age to start a filly in her first race?

We have one filly that was really ready to go last year, then like Zenyatta's sister, was in too much of a hurry to get where she was going, and injured her lower leg. We x-rayed and there was some muscle issues from her kicking the door to get out, etc. Now she is in a double wide, and she is HUGE. I had no idea my mare would produce such a large filly. She is four years old. Has had many hours of on track training, gate training, paddock training and we have her stabled at one of the training centers in Lexington, along with her brother and another filly that is younger.
I know some people have already retired some that are that age and bred them, but we want to give her a chance. I'm just concerned about the age.
thank you in advance.

[zinn21]

As long as you have put the miles in her I see no problem going on with her at 4 years old as long as she is currently sound. Now if you were starting from scratch with absolutely no training done with her I would say it is less probable she would make it. I find when you stress at a young age they grow stronger with recovery periods but harder to get them through soundness issues with nothing done with them by age three.

[bdw0617]

3 years old

[Sylvie Hebert]

Texas run 5yo maidens,Canada ANY age....

[dublino]

If you can afford the training why not?

Years training & fees = $30,000

Will she win this on the track, if not no real reason for her to race.

But your money and its up to you.

[ratherrapid]

my opinion in general has been that racing should open up the rules and permit maidens to race up to 7 or 8. The restrictions ought to involve the prep instead of the age, for that is what is relevant. Any horse can race probably to 12 or 13 if there's appropriate prep. What's the harm? Certainly I'd be without any hesitation to race a 5 or 6 or 7 yr. old maiden if the training and bone and tissue structure are there. probably a minority opinion at the race track.

[K~2]

Legal Jousting had a gelding make his first start as a four year old this year. And he won an Ontario-sired allowance. I think dublino has it spot on - if you have the money and ambition to spend it, why not?

[erhrdt3]

Thank you everyone, I knew I'd get some good answers...

She's been doing pen work and having someone on another horse track her to get her used to the track, etc. then it seemed she just did not seem to heal. We ended up getting professionals out there to work the muscle area, acupuncture, massages, you name it, and now the vet has given her the clear, along with clean x rays.
I was there when she was born...how time flies
Happy New Year to one and all

[Joltman]

I've changed my mind on this - used to think it an advantage to let the horse mature more, but the numbers say that 2yos that train and race stay sound longer. That said, if she has had work, and is coming back well, being mature may have some advantages esp if bred to run longer. Lots of maiden runners at over a mile are beat up sprinters who simply aren't fast enough or conditioned or bred to run that long.

jm

[erhrdt3]

She has gone as far as breaking from the gate, and we were just about to get her gate card when little miss impatience hurt herself trying to get somewhere fast and got irritated in her stall. Brat.
Anyway, she has Storm Cat as the grandfather on top, and Metfield (Seattle Slew) on the bottom. My mare (the dam) would have been a much better racer had she not wanted to socialize while running. Her dam was a pretty good runner. Over 100K in earnings if my memory does not fail me.
Finally my best friend, who's also the trainer for many years, decided to run my mare (the dam of filly we are talking about) in a long distance marathon type of race with all ages, colts, geldings, you name it, and she actually won it. We got a different jockey that did a great job of keeping her mind on what she was to do and the longer distance helped, so I feel much better with your stating she may have some advantages.

She's always done well in training races, and we would run her with an older mare, a gelding and a younger colt at the training facility. All we had to do was briefly teach her to dig in more with the back legs, she has learned that, and she also changes leads great. So now its just a matter of bad weather...and our trainer says she prob. would just start her in a lower race at Keeneland so we don't have to deal with traveling as our farm in right in Lexington. Not sure how all that works, but will be finding out soon, I'm sure.
Thank you all for your great information.

[Pete]

Hi erhrdt3,

It's difficult to give advice in a vacuum although your questions has been covered in general terms that may answer you.

In most jurisdictions horses can be maidens through the end of their 5yo season, a few longer. Check with the racing office.

In reading your initial post I would want to know what the pedigree is, who is the trainer. Have there been other foals from this mare? Have you had other horses with this trainer? It's not inconceivable that a trainer strings out an owner saying that there are problems with a horse that had little talent other than an owner that will pay the bills.

I don't know your experience as an owner but as others have suggested - do some math (you know what you're paying) and decide how far down the well you'll drop the bucket in order to find water.

Regards,

Pete

[Pete]

Several years ago at a major track, an unraced, 5yo gelding was entered into $45,000 MdSpWt race by a young trainer and a first time owner.
He went off at 66-1 and won by 13-1/2 lengths in 1:09.24. The race was made official but the stewards launched an inquiry with the principals.

"Why wasn't this horse entered into a race before?", the steward demanded.
"Couldn't catch 'em."

[erhrdt3]

Hi Pete,

First of all, I totally LOVE your photo on the forum of the horse "smiling'! LOL

My best friend is the trainer, so luckily I don't have to pay a trainer from the outside. She's been training for several years and has two wallfuls of her winners.

My filly was ready to go, but like many horses, hurt her leg when she was in too much of a hurry to get out of the barn and get where she was going. So we put her up to get the leg healed up, and just had clean x rays.

She is a granddaughter of Seattle Slew, and also a granddaughter of Storm Cat. Yet she is bright copper red with a pretty white blaze. We have her back at the training center in Lexington.

We've had her run on the training track with a gelding, and two colts, a couple experienced mares, and she seemed to always have to be ahead of them, as she was like that in the paddock as well growing up. Just have to figure out her distance. Is she going to be like her mother and run forever, or will she run regular race lengths?? We are not multi-millionaires like these folks buying one horse for ten million dollars so we can't pay someone to devote their time only on her or on a few horses.

So basically, if not for the injury, we would have had her at Keeneland or the other track...and I can't remember the name of it LOL sorry. I was told Groupie Doll was our neighbor in the stall row, but I didn't know it until she was gone!
If something else such as an injury happens again, then I'm going to take it as a sign and just not race her and she'll just be a spoiled farm horse. She's really tall also, and I remember reading somewhere that the big tall ones tend to get the injuries coming out of the stall i.e. Zenyatta's sister was hurt that way too but only on her hide. Oh, if only I had her.....

[madelyn]

Several years ago at a major track, an unraced, 5yo gelding was entered into $45,000 MdSpWt race by a young trainer and a first time owner.
He went off at 66-1 and won by 13-1/2 lengths in 1:09.24. The race was made official but the stewards launched an inquiry with the principals.

"Why wasn't this horse entered into a race before?", the steward demanded.
"Couldn't catch 'em."

Oh Pete, I have missed you so much!

I am currently the owner of a 5 year old maiden. This mare was picked up as a young 3 yr old (really about 2-1/2) by a wannabe trainer who at that time was "on the verge" of taking out his training license and we were doing a deal.. roll forward twenty months and I finally pushed to enter in a race with a late 4 year old.. she had been trained for marathons with no gate schooling and was nowhere near ready and the wannabe was nowhere near ready to get a trainer's license.. another trainer I use/like picked up the filly in mid November. We ran her once at Turfway and after breaking on top she panicked (where is everyone else?), peeled back and then went sightseeing the whole way. Near the end she suddenly decided to catch up - made up about 30 lengths fast to get beat 16 or so. We regrouped and have schooled and worked in blinkers in company from the gate and are pointing at another start on Jan 20.. point is this mare has the talent (2/24 4/48), can run forever (a mile or better is this girl's milieu) and we are confident she will not be a maiden much longer. My point is it just so depends on the horse and where you are and what has taken so long and whether or not there is light at the end of the tunnel.

As a side note, we ran a mile at Turfway with no lasix and scoped after, and the mare was perfect. Airway perfect. No blood, no mucus etc. I want to run no Lasix again (trainer has reduced protests to mild whimpers). I believe Lasix is one of the biggest culprits in reducing horses' starts because it makes the race recovery time so much longer.

[Pete]

Good to see you too Madelyn!

I like laughing horses

Running a horse operation, thoroughbred or otherwise, is a balance between your dreams, wallet, dedication and ethics.

You have to do what's right for your horses within your means and try to fulfill your ambitions. Not really easy.

Madelyn, I hope that your filly doesn't wait too long to break her maiden.

When you're waiting on a horse it makes sense to stay practical and as the owner it's incumbent on you to make changes to trainers if needed to get results. A horse that's winning it's share is a lot easier on the owner.

Best of luck everyone.

Regards,

Pete