These days they don't turn the yearlings back out, they start them in training so they will be ready to breeze, run at racing speed, for an eighth of a mile at the two year old in training sales in Feb. These sales were usually in August when I started. Some in July. Now the first races for two year olds are in mid-April. Some of those horses aren't actually two yet, and they are racing on open knees some of them.

The thing is that a horse's joints close at certain ages, just like people's do. Ankles close as yearlings, knees at about 2 1/2. Breezing on open knees is one of the stupidest things a trainer can do. Or used to be. The spine closes at 4, which why you aren't supposed to jump a horse under 5. That used to be a rule in all horse shows. Isn't anymore, though.

Anyway, when the yearling prices skyrocketed, I mean some fool paid $13.1 million for a horse that hadn't been even broken to saddle, let alone raced!! And he never raced, either. Broke down in training and went to stud. They also started using steroids to bulk up the horses..steroid bloat makes them look great. It also puts useless weight on their legs. Useless in that it isn't muscle or bone that is useful in racing or anything else the horse will be doing. And the steroids can interfere with breeding..Genuine Risk and Cigar are two examples of horses whose breeding ability was compromised by steroids. Of course, they also compromises the immune system including the inflammatory response, which contributes to bone density among other things.

Then after the people pay a lot of money for a horse that has been trained before his body is ready, and medicated to the max, unlike the olden days when no trainer would dream of breezing a horse with open knees and meds were illegal, they can't wait to get their money back and send the horse on to the races.

When Thoroughbred racing gets back to being about the horses and not about how much you can flip them for at a young age, and then get your money back from that, then they will go back to the old fashioned way of doing things and the young horses will be sounder and will not break down in such huge numbers. Being old fashioned is good for some things, like horses in horse racing.