Age

Question
In a recent response, you indicated that the ideal race age for females is 3.5 to 4 years and for males 3.5 to 5 years.  Should I infer from this that since Big Brown and Eight Belles  were only 3 years old, they could have run faster times in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, had they been older?

Are there any horse races with no restrictions on age?

For human races, like the Olympics, it seems that there are rarely age restrictions.

Thanks in advance.

regards,

Lars Ewell

Answer
Hi Lars:

In general, horses reach their physical peak somewhere between the ages of 3.5- and 4-years old.  They can usually maintain that peak status for a year or two, depending on their gender (males tend to maintain their optimal-racing condition longer than females).  Depending on when the first two Derby finishers were foaled, they may or may not have reached their physical peak.  In any case, they must be very close to "maturity" if they have not yet reached it.  There is a definite possibility that they could negotiate 1 1/4 miles a drop faster as they advance through their 3-year old seasons. However, any improvement due to maturity would be very slight, at this point.

Once in a great while, there are races for 2-year olds and up.  I think Calder has one every now and again.  For the most part, though, they do not exist.  In the Olympics, you would hard-pressed to find a 12-year-old track star who can compete with the men or women.  It happens in skating, gymnastics and a few other sports, but almost never in racing.   


Regards,

Brad Adler
www.superthoroughbred.com