makes too much sense

The Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale is taking place in Kentucky these days. One of the stories recapping day one of the sale, from bloodhorse.com, details a different approach that one outfit intends to take with its yearling stock purchased to pinhook at the 2yo sales early next year. Read the story yourself, of course, but the basic idea is that the horses won't be cranked to produce their best speed in the undertack shows. The owner, an advertising executive, Dayman Rayman, plans to breeze them easy 1/8th miles in company, as opposed to solo charging down the lane. The reason, which makes all the sense in the world, is to avoid the added stress of the fast work and prevent typical injuries that horses coming out of these sales often develop.

Let's hope he has some success, as I think that's the ideal way to develop young horses. Instead of drilling down on them so early and then being forced to stop due to injury or, more likely, the fact that 2yo races aren't carded in February, horses will be able to come along at a more sensible rate. It's for this reason that I've always liked the Adena Springs 2yo sale, where the approach is similar. It's unlikely that the concept will catch on, given the industry's obsession with early speed, but one can hold out hope.