Presented by the Paint Barrel Racing Incentive Program
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Presented by the Paint Barrel Racing Incentive Program By TRACY GANTZ Studies suggest racing 2-year-olds might lead to improved musculoskeletal health. As the young horse’s bones remodel following exercise, they might also become stronger, which could lead to greater longevity on the track. JESSICA HEIN Feb13-FreeOnline-TEST-wAd Modified: February 15, 2013 3:52 PM Files:Publications:PaintHorseRacing:2013:Feb 2013-ENews:PBRIP ad:Feb13-FreeOnline-TEST-wAd.indd for older horses are created, horses are Studies indicate racing at age 2 might help remaining in training longer. At age 7 in 2012, Rylees Boy (QH) became racehorses’ bones remodel and become the oldest horse to win the Champion of Champions, Quarter Horse racing’s stronger, though care should be taken to richest race for older horses. Among Thoroughbreds, Monterosso won the address customized needs. richest race of 2012, the Dubai World Cup, at age 5. arney Ofield is the kind of race- 3-year-olds, with Barney Ofield, at age The great Got Country Grip, the horse anyone would love to own. A 6, ranking ninth. all-time leading Paint earner, raced Bmultiple APHA racing champion, through age 7. He began his career he has earned $166,223 while starting Legitimate Longevity at 2, starting—and winning—seven 35 times over five seasons. His nine Racehorses of the major racing times. At 2, Got Country Grip cap- wins—five of them stakes victories— breeds—Paints, Quarter Horses and tured the Graham Paint Futurity, included two Grade 1s in 2012, and Thoroughbreds—don’t regularly fol- Speedhorse Sprint Futurity and PSBA he ranks eighth on the list of all-time low Barney Ofield’s pattern of racing American Paint Classic Futurity. leading Paint earners. at age 6 and beyond. Though injuries It sounds counter-intuitive to think “It seems like the more mature he play a role, horses are retired for many that a racehorse can last longer and gets, the better he gets,” said Justin reasons. stay sounder if he races at 2. After all, Haywood, whose wife, Julie, owns the Good colts and fillies can make pounding on bones and tendons can’t gelding with Joni Willis, wife of trainer their owners more money as breed- be good for a still-growing horse, can Eddie Lee Willis. “He’s turned out ing animals. Particularly with Paints it? Yet, in 2012, 11 Paint racehorses right now, resting up to get ready for and Quarter Horses, second careers age 3 or older won stakes, and only Remington.” beckon. For example, many Paint race- one of those did not race at 2. Now 7 years old, Barney Ofield horses have gone on to win money as The January 2013 issue of the began his career at age 2, when he barrel racers. Equine Veterinary Journal reported on started 10 times. Racing at such a Lower purse structures for older a study conducted in New Zealand young age did not adversely affect him. horses can also lead to retirement, at the Institute of Veterinary, Animal In 2011 and 2012, he was named the though racing associations are working and Biomedical Sciences at Massey Champion Running Solid Paint-Bred to change that. As more opportunities University. The researchers examined Aged Gelding and Aged Horse. While every horse is an individual In his 2-year-old season, Ubuyillfly earned $124,368–more earnings than any and needs to have training tailored to other Paint Horse in 2012. his physical capabilities, studies are showing that training and racing horses at 2 allows their bones to remodel in response to that work and can perhaps even help them stay sound. Because rich futurities offer far more money than racehorses can win at age 3 and beyond, the incentive is to run horses at 2, before they are fully mature. For example, the 2012 Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appa- loosa Futurity sported the largest total purse—$240,760—of any Paint race, regardless of age. Ubuyillfly won last year’s Speedhorse Graham, and his 2-year-old earnings of $124,368 were higher than that of any other Paint in 2012. On the list of leading Paint racehorse earn- ers last year, 2-year-olds held the first four spots and six of the top 10. Three of the other four spots went to JESSICA HEIN PRESENTED BY THE PAINT BARREL RACING INCENTIVE PROGRAM u FEBRUary 2013 u 2 Feb13-FreeOnline-TEST-wAd Modified: February 15, 2013 3:52 PM Files:Publications:PaintHorseRacing:2013:Feb 2013-ENews:PBRIP ad:Feb13-FreeOnline-TEST-wAd.indd APHA FILE PHOTO Born in January 2006, Barney Ofield had the advantage of being a more physically mature horse when he started racing at age 2. With careful attention paid to the horse’s individual needs and genetics for longevity, the result has been a long-lived career on the track—the gelding has earnings of more than $166,000 in 35 starts over five years, and a pair of 2011 and 2012 APHA Champion Aged Solid Paint-Bred Horse titles. the careers of 4,683 Thoroughbreds of the Racehorse Summit, that “horses conditioning, becoming stronger in and what type of training and racing, carry this to the extreme” with regards that direction. if any, they had as 2-year-olds. to Wolff’s law. As this process occurs, some bone The results demonstrated that horses “The skeleton has to be literally can first become de-mineralized— raced as 2-year-olds started more molded into a performance skeleton,” actually weaker—before it re-mineral- often in subsequent years than those his report stated. izes to become thicker and stronger. that began racing at age 3 or older, Rick Arthur, D.V.M., the equine “That provides a weak period where and they competed for more racing medical director for the California the bone is prone to overuse,” Arthur seasons. Horse Racing Board and a former said. He added that good trainers “Horses in training or racing as president of the American Association know when to back off on a horse in 2-year-olds may have better muscu- of Equine Practitioners, explained how these situations. loskeletal health throughout life than young bone responds and remodels. That is where individualized training horses that are first in training or rac- “Bone is an organ that responds to becomes so important, especially with ing at a later age,” the study noted. stress and exercise,” he said. “It needs young, growing horses. This mirrors previous studies and to adapt to what sort of stresses are echoes a theory dating back to the going to be put on the bone when the A Leading Example 19th century. German anatomist and horse is racing.” Bill Hoskin bred, owned and trained surgeon Julius Wolff developed what Arthur described a cross-section of Barney Ofield early in his career. became known as Wolff’s law, pos- an unbroken yearling’s cannon bone “I never did overrun him,” Hoskin tulating that human or animal bone as spherical. After training and by said. “I took care of him. And con- adapts to the loads under which it is the time the horse begins racing, the formation-wise, he was kind of thick- placed. cannon bone becomes egg-shaped, boned. He just took to racing like a Larry Bramlage, D.V.M., a partner with the thicker part toward the duck takes to water.” in the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospi- front and inside, Arthur says. This Barney Ofield began racing at 2 in tal in Lexington, Kentucky, noted in a occurs because the bone has remod- March at Remington Park. He started report to the 2012 Welfare and Safety eled in reaction to the training and twice a month in March, April and 3 u FEBRUary 2013 u PRESENTED BY THE PAINT BARREL RACING INCENTIVE PROGRAM Feb13-FreeOnline-TEST-wAd Modified: February 15, 2013 3:52 PM Files:Publications:PaintHorseRacing:2013:Feb 2013-ENews:PBRIP ad:Feb13-FreeOnline-TEST-wAd.indd May, made only two starts during the Hutchins and many other veterinar- Comparison Between Breeds summer and finished up with a couple ians recommend radiographs to deter- Racing at 2 has become a crucial fac- of races at Blue Ribbon Downs in mine bone maturity. One indicator can tor in the Kentucky Derby. That classic October. be the amount of closure there is in a race has been run 138 times since 1875, Just as a halter horse born early in horse’s knee—how much of the imma- and only once has a horse won who did the year can have a maturity advantage ture cartilage has matured into bone. not race at 2—Apollo in 1882. over those born later, racehorses can Ask a young horse for more than Thoroughbred racehorses typically benefit from an early foaling date. he is capable of too early and he could receive longer gallop training than do Barney Ofield, for example, was a late develop epiphysitis, or inflammation of Paints and Quarter Horses because January foal. the growth plates. Hutchins says epiphy- they race longer distances. But even Tom Hutchins, D.V.M., is an asso- sitis can be common in 2-year-olds that Thoroughbreds usually compete over ciate veterinarian with the racetrack are “being pushed too hard too soon.” shorter distances at 2 than at age 3 division of Equine Sports Medicine Two-year-olds in race training are or older. Paints and Quarter Horses and Surgery in Weatherford, Texas, also prone to shin soreness, often might start out at 350 yards or even currently based at Turf Paradise in called bucked shins.