Flat race Training for a 2 year old colt

Question
Dear Ed,
We have a 2 year old colt flat race horse that has been broken in sympathetically and has been with the Breaker/Trainer since 20th October, he is going nicely but the trainer dose not want to start cantering him yet due to him being a large horse who is still growing, but to maybe do a bit more later in the season and aim for one or two late season races to give him a bit of experience ready for next season, so have decided to bring him home for a bit of turn out as he is becoming increasingly bored with just the trot work each day as we don't want to ruin him, can you tell me how long a period of time the trainer would need to prepare him for these couple of races and any tips on what we may need to look out for to get this right.
Regards Nicola

Answer
hi Nicola   i am not big on racing 2 year olds. i always look forward to the 3 year old year. you can break them as 2 year olds and trot, canter gallop etc, but i never would work them. you must be absolutely sure that the horses knees are completely closed by Xray, before you put any hard work under them. that is why i always waited for the 3 year old year to really get them going. i usually take a 3 month period of training before they are ready to run., but i am sure your trainer will not do anything that would hurt your horse. young horses  will come up with all kinds of problems if you start training them too soon. open knees, bucked shins, osolets, Polips in their throats. hope this helps you. thanks ED HESS