RACE OR REST THEM

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 27, 2 February 1927, Page 7

RACE OR REST THEM

AMERICAN OWNER'S

EXPERIMENT

Many Australian owners and trainers are of opinion that we start, two-year-old racing too early, and that there should be none .until December at earliest. They argue it,, would mean better and sounder horse 3in the long "run, and no doubt there is a good deal in the idea.

Against this it can be pointed out that a high' percentage of-pur best horsesrstayers, as . well as sprinters—commenced racing almost as early as possible at two years, and that, of recent years, there have been comparatively few really highclass racehorses whose public appearance, was deferred until they were three. Gloaming and Vallicare are among the exceptions. Windbag certainly did not race as a two-year-old until December, but Heroic, Manfredj and Spearfelt commenced in October. ';

In/! America at present there is a contraversynot on early two-year-old racing, but whether two-.year-olds ■ raced in the winter in a salubrious climate make better three-year-olds than two-year-olds spelled in the winter, and not started until they are three., In- some -parts of America winter .racing is impossible, and horses often have to be kept under cover; and practically in idleness for a long period. In other parts, however, racing is held throughout the winter; and Mr E R Bradley, of "Idle-Hour" Stock Farm, in order tp -test whether it is best to race or rest; them, divided his best two-year-olds," both colts and fillies, into two divisions.

One division he will race through the present winter season, and the other will be kept in winter- quarters in Kentucky, and not raced until spring. Mr. Bradley did this last winter, and points out that .the two-year-olds -which raced showed greater improvement as three-year-olds than those which were .spelled. .He is confident it will be the same again. "In America" most owners and trainers disagree with Bradley's views, holding that the better three-year-olds come from horses not raced in the winter as two-year-olds or early three-year-olds. WHAT MADDEN THINKS. As.the owner of most of America's best three-year-olds last year, and one of that country's leading breeders, Mr. Bradley knows what he is doing, and he has one authoritative supporter in John E. Madden, who has headed the winning breeders' list in America for many years. Discussing the subject with a representative, of'"Daily Racing Form," Mr. Madden said:—;,\ ■•.;'; ' . ,:' • '.'■■■■' ■■'■ ' ■ >'■ ■ ' "I agree with Mr. E. K. Bradley in his contention that, if not overdone, the winter racing of two-year-olds" is beneficial rather than detrimental to their development as racehorses, and gives them a shade the best of it % during the following spring and summer. ' . - •"". ~ "An instance of a two-year-old racing all winter and winning consistently the following summer was Old Rosebud, which went East and beat the best of them, improving with each race. When I sold him as a yearling Ito Colonel Applegate 'he was not as big as a minute. Winter racing developed him into a sturdy two-year-old, and I hardly recognised him when I saw him. .at..Saratoga. ' "The young trotters that winter in the South are the strongest when racing in the West and: North the;following summer. ' '

"In the autumn many good two-year-olds, especially those owned by newcomers to racing—Hut riot often" on the advice of their trainers—are turned out for the winter. .Only a-year ago the Kentucky Derby; favourite, contrary to the advice of the trainer, was. turned out, -and the owner learned, when it was too late, that his candidate as a three-year-old was not as good as he was at two.

"The case of Plaudit,.the winner of two Derbies, one of them the Kentucky, is a striking example. A first-class two-year-old, he raced until late in the autumn, one of the races being over a mile. I did not turn Plaudit out after his hard campaign. I turned him in.

"It would have been cruel to have turned him out to 'rough it,' as they call it, I gave him moderate training at Churchill D/fiwns all winter. Not a day did he miss being under the saddle. His worth as a' three-year-old is history. - • "To turn out for the winter older horses which have been campaigning during the summer—that is, four-year-olds and upward—is often tantamount to a breakdown. They are a long time coming back, if' they ever do."