Training 2 y/o maidens

[Gwen Morse]

With the caveat that everyone does it differently, how do folks handle training 2 y/o maidens (Juniors feel free to chime in)?

Only race the peaks and keep training the others till they gallop peak (or at least wait till they're 3)?
Race everyone once at the start of their distance category season and then keep racing the ones who made money in their first race and return the slowpokes to training?
Something else?

I've bit the bullet and paid for custom barns and so I'm considering options to be a little less stupid about racing my younglings.

I only had two 2 y/os last season so there wasn't a lot of thought to it.

[Laura Smith]

I would race everything you can, with the exception of well-bred horses that gallop poorly but that you also don't want to lose in a claimer. It can be worth it to sit on those ones, especially if they're fillies.
Horses that race can earn money... Horses that sit in the barn just cost you money.

[Darcy McBride]

I would race everything you can, with the exception of well-bred horses that gallop poorly but that you also don't want to lose in a claimer. It can be worth it to sit on those ones, especially if they're fillies.
Horses that race can earn money... Horses that sit in the barn just cost you money.

Pretty much what Laura says. I have one customer barn where my claimers and solids live. Possibly also may have a well-bred Productive filly or two I do not want to run in claimers; hoping for an improvement down the line. I gallop them all at the beginning of each year and at the start of WK9, to see if any improved.

I run all my horses when they are first able to race, at least 2 or 3 times. If I have routers that I know will what a longer distance I will sometimes hold them with some training done, until there are some longer distance races to run in.

I race all peaks and progressives. I race the late bloomers as well; some do fine, and others not as well. If I see a LB horse struggling after a few races, I will sometimes hold them back for a while. I don't see any sense in beating down their confidence when they are not ready, but that's just me.

Hope this helps somewhat, Gwen.

[Ma Springs]

Yes, pretty much what's already been said (guess I've learned from the best ).

I race them. If it's a nicer filly and she doesn't want to run in a couple of tries I might hold her back for a while (but I don't really have any "system" for that yet, also got the custom barns a while back, make things easier..!).

[Ash Tarasin]

If allowance or better:

I race my young horses once their workout-times seems to indicate they'd stand a chance of winning one of the maiden races. If they don't, I wait for the competition to become less fierce and/or for longer distances to become available.

If my horses end up being slow in their first one or two tries in a maiden race (regardless of speedy workout times), I also wait.

If productive or lesser:

I keep every non-peak horse in training until they become allowance or better. Horses that already peaked and didn't reach allowance-level I pension.