Coming 2yo Late Bloomers - How do You Decide When To Enter them in Their First Race

[Tammy Fox]

I have been thinking about late bloomers that are or will be 2yo. When do you enter them in their first race? Do you do it differently for the surfaces or distances.
I mainly do turf routers and I know they don't even start up until Week 10 but I am wondering if maybe I should wait until either the last few weeks of their 2yo year to enter them in their first race or if I should start entering them when the routing races open.
Do any of you wait until a late bloomer is 3 before you enter them in races.
I know the trainer says bring them along carefully and then with say progressives don't wait to long to enter races and with peaks, they are pretty much where they are going to be at and may improve some with race track experience.

I have debated on waiting until my 2yo routers turn 3 before racing them but wonder if that would do more harm than good.
I have the same question about all the breeds not just TB but also arabians and the rest of the breeds.

I know you can look at sire and dam and see when they raced best but what else do you look at. Do you look at timed workouts to see if they improve to a certain point before you enter them. I just feel that I am entering my late bloomers too early.
Look forward to reading the responses. I want to learn new ways to train and determine when its best to enter races with my horses.

[Andrew Chillin]

I ignore that comment. I’m only racing stakes and freaks but even if I was running allowances, ignore. Look at work out times and compare to other horses in the races. So like routers if I’ve done my workouts to line up for fitness and tiredness, and the stars align for a week 10 race I like, I’m there. If not, I’ll wait a week or so and find another race. Get them out there and get that experience. It also depends on what your goal is. If you want them to run 3 or 4 races at 2. Week 1 or 2 or 3 when they turn 3. In my mind there’s no sense in waiting to debut a horse. You don’t know the real numbers and won’t have any ideas until it races. If it’s stakes it could be high level; or It might be a dud and then force you to decide to wait to race it.

[Nicole Marie]

I have been thinking about late bloomers that are or will be 2yo. When do you enter them in their first race? Do you do it differently for the surfaces or distances.

I don't care too much about their records (I likely will if/when I seriously start standing studs) but I run them at 2. If their workout times compare or the field is short, I will run them. I like getting them the experience. For example I ran this one four times as a two year old but only her 3rd and 4th start (in which she broke her maiden) was she even running in her preferred division - I just knew she would bring home a paycheck and if she was going to be a second start improver, we could get that improve in before she really started facing her group https://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.ph ... ID=1604440

[Stormy Peak]

I have mostly turf routers too. I Always race them.

It never use to matter with the 'late bloomer' or 'progressive' information...because we didn't know what we had...so people raced them.

Roughian started out a stakes yearling, back then we didn't have the progression information. She was still a stakes at age 2, maybe into age 3 too? I never galloped her as a 3 year old, but she could have been a freak at that point. She was a freak at age 4 and at that time, I got the info that she had peaked. At age 5 she turned into a stakes peaked, and at age 6, an allowance peak.
Looks weird on her page that she's listed as an Allowance Peak with over $9 million in earnings...lol. But even as an allowance peak, she finished, like 2nd in the Pegasus, if I recall. If I had not raced her as a late bloomer or progressive... her career would not have been what it turned out to be.

So, I don't understand sitting on a horse waiting for it to peak ??? To me, once it's peaked, it's Down Hill slope from there!
While on the 'front' side of that peak, they could still be on the upper end of the slope, a high level runner able to keep up with or finish ahead of anything on the track. Also, racing them, for me, is an easier way to keep them fit, than trying to go in and either gallop or give works to a bunch of 2 year old, that could just be racing : )

Stormy

[Eric Gray]

What Stormy said.

[Kelly Haggerty]

For my TR I usually start them when they break the 1:10 barrier for 6f. Everything else just gets to try a start and I adjust from there. If they don't run well I will work them and see if their times jump, if not I just hold them until they bloom.

[Andrew James]

I race all my allowance up late bloomers as soon as able for two starts. Then I'll evaluate from there.

If they run well they keep running. If they run poorly I move them to my late bloomers barn till they peak or 3.5 whatever comes first.

[Carolyn Eaton]

Sprinter LB's I start at week 4/5, milers week 12-13, routers week 1-2 of their 3yo year (unless they're freaks already - then I start the first week they can race but will only race every 3 weeks to "bring them along carefully"); progressives I tend to start the 3rd-4th week after they can start - this way the freaks and better stakes have likely already won.

[Lily Wilkins]

I give them two starts. If they run well, they keep running. If they run poorly, they go on a "Gallop once a week to keep fit" schedule until they bloom. The rationale behind the two starts, is that some horses are coded to peak at their first or second start.

I use this formula for all gallop levels - if I have an insanely well bred Allowance, Productive, Ect, I still make an effort to give them two juvenile starts before I sit and wait on them.

[Tammy Fox]

Thanks Caroline and Lily both your suggestions make great sense to me. Since I run mainly allowance horses with several being LB. I feel extremely lucky when I some how breed a stakes and lets just face it for me, breeding a freak, is like trying to win the mega millions or power ball lottery(LOL).
Most of my horses come in at allowance and some eventually peak at stakes. I am happy with that and maybe with time I will see a few top stakes horses or freaks but for now I will just happily play with my allowance racers.

[Gwen Morse]

Thanks Caroline and Lily both your suggestions make great sense to me. Since I run mainly allowance horses with several being LB. I feel extremely lucky when I some how breed a stakes and lets just face it for me, breeding a freak, is like trying to win the mega millions or power ball lottery(LOL).

I mainly run productives although I've had a couple lucky gallops the past two seasons. I race all turf divisions. I also don't use gp for equipment so I do it the hard way. I start my routers at 2 because, if nothing else, I need those starts to confirm that I have the right equipment.

What I do with all my 2 y/os is sort by gallops and put one entry in each of the available maiden races selecting my best horses (usually allowance gallops). Then I go back and fill in the second entries from my productives and any solids I'm hanging onto for improvement. The theory from doing that is the the better horses should finish OTB and make money, while the lower gallops will at least get an equipment check. If their equipment is correct the lower gallops still have a chance to finish OTB as a properly equipped debuting productive will often beat a wrongly equipped allowance.

And then I ruin all my careful planning by retiring my 3 y/o routers before the long routes open up. You can skip that step.

[Leigh Ann Anderson]

I will usually race my late blooming 2 yos that are allowance or better as 2 yos. Anything less than a stakes gallop will go a little later in the season-let the freaky or peak stakes go ahead and clear our of the maiden races. For some of my late bloomers, I will wait until the races get to 1 1/8 then look for a maiden in a more obscure location (ie not europe or north america).

Of course, those are goals. I still have a couple of stakes 3 yos who haven't made it to the track yet so best laid plans and all of that.

ETA I'm only talking about turf routers, I have very few horses of quality that aren't turf routers

[Nick Gilmore]

Maybe it’s a numbers game, but I have enough to race that I can wait for the LBs to peak. I had a 4 year old filly last season who finally peaked and turned freak. I’m glad I waited. If I had run her and she performed badly I may have culled her. She won 2 minor stakes last season and hopefully she’ll keep going.

[Nicole Marie]

I run mine. For the ones who improve after racing, I can get that needed experience in them. As far as I'm concerned, no reason to not run a productive late bloomer in a race that I would run a productive peak in - since both are productive.

Now for barns that only run allowance and up, or only run stakes and freak, they may wait until they bloom so they don't rage retire/cull something from their barn. But that's not where my barn is at quality wise, so since I run everything, if it's a spot I think they can run in, I'm running them regardless of their improve comment.

[Lucas Davenport]

Plain and simple: I run them, because less than 50% improve. And if I didn't run them I would have lost a year, to a year and a half, and maybe ever two years of races.