Racing from York - Yearling Stakes

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sonjafoers

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I did a double take when I turned on the tv and this was on, I've been sat here trying to work out the actual age of the horses in that race but my mind has gone blank.

As blood horses are all aged from January 1st could these horses be 2 year olds or under?

Apart from the moral argument they didn't actually look that young from the fleeting glimpse I saw, can anyone enlighten me please.
 
hi, "DBS premier yearlings" are the sponsors of the race, it is for two year olds, i also am not venturing into the morality debate on that one!
 
As all racehorses..infact all horses that have newly issued passports..are registered as having their birthday on 1st january of the year of their birth, then yes, a horse could infact race as a yearling..if it was born in may 2009 and raced next march, it would technically be 1yr and 22months old..but on its passport it would be 2yrs and 3 months old
 
nativeponies - the weatherbys passports have the horses actual date of birth on them, Ethel has one and her DOB says 12th April 2007. I work with racehorses and occasionally have a peek at the passports and they all have their actual DOB on them. But as you say, in racing they go by the yard of birth rather than the actual date, we have a 2yo who we discovered at his second race was 2yrs and 3months and his first race was 4-5weeks before that so was still a yearling.
 
Ok thank you, I was near enough right in my thinking!

I switched on near the end of the race but they certainly didn't look that immature, is that mainly from breeding or from training does anyone know?

If there's anyone here with experience of training these youngsters I'd be interested to hear what training they go through and what age they are started - I'm not trying to start a debate on rights or wrongs but just curious.

Thank you.
 
Nativeponies, I am going to sound like a complete numpty now, but I am guessing they are backed in the same way as any other horse but is it done much quicker in terms of schooling/education etc?

In terms of backing do they just get used to the rider and are then trained on the gallops?

In general are they chosen for training because they are more mature physically or does that maturity come with their training?

I am thinking of TBs I have known (and mine in particular) as 2 year olds and they certainly didn't look like these racing today.

Also I don't know if your experience is flat or NH, but do the NH horses get schooled over jumps as 2 year olds?
 
A lot of 2year olds look very grown up. Its partly down to breeding and feeding. Most are backed at 18 monthss, and we have a 'retired' one at our yard at the moment- it is 4.
Sonjafoers- not really bakced properly, not much lunging or anything at all. They basically know how to stop/start and turn if your lucky!
National hunt horse start life a lot later. They are not normally jumped until they 4. and often over hurdles or p2p first, but their careers will often last onger- until 10-14+ in some cases.
 
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Most will be backed from post yearling sales onwards, so from October of their 'yearling year', depending on maturity. If a yearling isn't mature enough to be sent to the sales and needs time it will stay at home until thought mature enough to cope with a training yard environment, it is perfectly feasible that some will stay at home until approaching three years old as there is no point sending them into training and paying huge training fees if the horse isn't going to cope at all.

Most yearlings will be well handled before the sales though. If they are going to the Sales, they are prepped which involves walking in hand, stabling at night, grooming, etc from about July/August time of their yearling year. A lot of studs will get them long reining before the Sales so it really is just a case of backing them once they get into training.

Hope that helps.
 
Most of our colts are broken at the age of 18months all being well, the fillys are normally left until they are just over 2. They normally get ridden in the roundpen daily, then move onto having a canter around the fields with an older safe racehorse, going for walks out on the road and then onto the gallops. Ours are only short so they start on one canter, and I think its at this time they have a week or so break in the field and are then brought back in and go through the process again only quicker and dont go in the field for a canter. After they have been doing one canter for a while and get fitter, they move onto two canters and then once the vet has scanned their knees and said that they are well enough developed to start doing 3 canters and work, then thats what they do. :)
 
Forgot to add... when being broken ours are taken into a round pen and lunged for a few days, gradually they'll have tack on when in the roundpen, then will move onto getting used to being tacked up in the stable, then they'll have a rider on in the roundpen and will be kept on the lunge for a few days and will be walked from the roundpen onto the yard with their rider on, and then go onto whats in my previous post :) They are broken over about a week and a half - 2 weeks.
 
Thank you everyone, that's really helpful, I've learnt something today!

Dominobrown, you have a retired one at 4 but at what age do flat horses normally retire? I know pointers carry on in their work until the ages you mention, but I know very little about flat racing.

Tonitot, backed in a week and a half, that's an eye opener! Thank you for your info, it's interesting to know how everything works and I can't believe how quickly they are brought on
 
Well I work on the point yard but trainer did have a few rides on the flat, I think it is quite often around the 4/5 mark though there was one on the telly the other day which was 8. :)
p.s on the telly one just refused to start- send it to me, i want a racehorse!
 
Gosh young isn't it, I didn't realise that. No wonder they often go on to alternative careers.

Yes I have just seen her, obviously she doesn't feel like it today!
 
dominobrown said:
Well I work on the point yard but trainer did have a few rides on the flat, I think it is quite often around the 4/5 mark though there was one on the telly the other day which was 8. :)
p.s on the telly one just refused to start- send it to me, i want a racehorse!
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Claire Balding just tweeted about it - mare called Sariska. There ya go! I've seen that happen once before in a race - always mention it's a rare thing when people ask me if horses hate racing.
 
It probs just want freshened up a bit. I have heard of it before, has it won a big race? They were saying before the race it wasn't 100% fit and it didn't like the ground so it could be that.
 
My life and livelihood has been flat racing. Breaking in yearlings, prepping them for the sales, R&R and getting them ready to go back into training. I'd like to think that all of mine are very well broken in! We walk, trot and canter on each rein on the correct leads and diagonals. We start off lunging the breakers, then they are rollered, continue to wear the roller full time as will go on over the top of their rugs. Then saddled, side reins, lunge and long rein. Lie over in the box, sit on and walk around in the box. Get on in the lunge pit and ridden on the lunge then loose and then go into the paddock and join the others plus a lead horse for a schooling education including transitions, change of diagonals in trot, correct leads in canter, figures of 8 etc. It would do a lot of none racing people to walk Epsom, Brighton etc to see the undulations and down hills these horses have to gallop down! They have to be balanced otherwise they'd end up on their noses! Yes when they are doing their fittening work a lot of it is in straight lines and sweeping bends but the ground work is always done properly first.
 
dominobrown said:
It probs just want freshened up a bit. I have heard of it before, has it won a big race? They were saying before the race it wasn't 100% fit and it didn't like the ground so it could be that.
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Gosh yes, I just looked her up here. She's won a small fortune and two Oaks. Obviously been at it long enough to know *exactly* what ground she wants :)
 
Sariska is an exceptional racemare - hopefully today was a blip and she'll be back again soon. Jamie Spencer was superb and kept his cool and gave her a pick of grass. Wonderful that Midday won (she is a real cracker) and Snow Fairy ran a career best in 2nd first time against older horses.
 
Sorry really not trying to do that! I did put my piece in about breaking earlier - if that counts?!!! Midday is beautiful too and has such an honest head. So pleased for Henry. I was cheering so loudly for Twice Over in the International for him to be beaten by a minimal amount. He'll come back with a big win soon. I was going to start a thread on Midday and her big win but wasn't sure anyone would be interested!
 
Aces_High is your schooling program unusual in flat training in that you seem to give them an education whilst training them? On an earlier post I got the impression that once off the track it's difficult to do much with them ie even turning them could be a problem in the early days.

Yes it seems to have been hijacked and if I knew anything about flat racing I could comment, but unfortunately I don't having only even been to NH, P2P and watched the big NH races on tv. However I have to say I enjoyed it this afternoon and have since learnt quite a bit from here :)

Just one more question ( you can tell I know nothing ) are flat jockeys smaller than jump jockeys in general? They seemed to look it from what I saw today.
 
Yeh flat jockeys are waayyy smaller. Some jump jockeys are actually quite tall (especially compared to me!), flat jockeys can way under 8 stone easy. When k. fallon he started out he was apprantly 5 stone something??? don't know if thats true!
I think it depends on the horse, Aces_high horses sounds well educated. I think all of them can do something though, even some that have been backed in a week, we had one that was a flat which then p2p, it raced one week and in a fortnight it was SJ.
 
I broke yearlings for years and Aces High is accurate in the fact that an awful lot of ground work goes into them, long reining for blinkin miles....... also they go racing with all the fanfare etc and pretty much take it in their stride.
On the Jockey front flat boys are pretty ickle on the whole there are exceptions I married a Jump jockey and he is 5'10
 
I can see I could keep this post going & going with loads of questions but now I've got thinking about it I've got lots to ask - sorry :)

Once the youngsters are fit & ready to race are they all vet checked, tonitot says hers get their knees scanned so I wonder if this is normal. Are they checking growth plates or is this not an issue?

Once they are ready to go how do you get them prepared for all the hustle & bustle of their first race, I'm guessing their first few are very low-key but they won't have seen anything like it before so how do you get them ready for this? Do you travel them with an experienced companion early on?

Is the system pretty much the same for NH & flat although the NH babies may be older?

I've read AP's auto-biography and was amazed at what those boys go through for the love of racing, is it pretty much the norm to go to such extremes to make the weight, and even more so for flat jockeys?
 
i think it's harder on the Jump boys as they are usually bigger so they are way below their ideal weight,also they race in the winter (I know there is summer jumps but most is in the winter) and they get very cold when they are making a low weight, they also take crunching falls on an almost daily basis and nothing fat wise to absorb the blow.
as for race prep in my experience no they just go if there is going to be a problem it will be second time out but no never really had a problem.
a lotof yards scan knees etc now and some don't get to the track as their knees won't stand it so they get re-homed.
 
Thank you jockmaster. I've never really thought it through before in respect of training and race prep, I've only ever given thought to what happens once their careers are over. I think the Yearling Stakes opened my eyes to how young the flat babies are when they start and I didn't have a clue as to their training.

Very interesting.
 
also the horses that run at 2 are from fast maturing lines there are other lines that are slower maturing and jumping lines slower again (not always Red Rum was sprinter bred)

rest assured and I'm sure Aces High and everyone else who has worked in racing will agre these horses are treated well and with respect and their behavior on the racetrack is evidence of that.
 
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