STANDARDBREDS V THOROUGHBRED ISSUE 23_Jerkins feature.qxd 31/01/2012 14:09 Page 2
STANDARDBREDS V THOROUGHBREDS Secretariat’s 1973 mile-and-a-half world record has never been broken
THOROUGHBREDS Indeed. American Jewel set a world record for two-year-old fillies last September 3rd, when she won the $646,600 She’s A Great Lady Final in 1:50 2/5 at The Meadowlands. Just two months later, Sweet Lou set a world record for all two-year-olds when he captured the $625,535 Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Colt Pace at Woodbine in 1:49. Two-year-old Thoroughbreds? Several decades ago, two-year-olds routinely ran in three-furlong baby races early in the season. “Everybody used to bring their two-year-olds to Florida,” Hall of Fame trainer LeRoy Jolley said. “They had baby races in January, February or March. If you go back historically, eight horses that won a baby race went on to win the Derby. Carry Back broke his maiden at
three furlongs. Dark Star not only broke his maiden, but he won a stakes race at the end of the Hialeah meet, the Hialeah Juvenile, at three furlongs.” Baby races are a faded memory. Now, thanks to two-year-olds-in-training sales, juveniles are recording eighth of a mile and/or quartermile blowouts in faster times than any of the sport’s greatest champions ever did in races. “The faster they go, the more they go for in the sale,” Jolley said. How fast? They work eighths of a mile in under :11 and even under :10 and/or quartermiles under :21. “I’ve never had a horse in my barn do that,” Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens said. “I had them shave :11, but they’re shaving 10 now. I had a horse who
breezed in :21, Virginia Rapids, the day before a stakes (the 1994 Vosburgh). I thought I blew it, but he won the stakes anyway.” That afternoon, Virginia Rapids won the seven-furlong Vosburgh in 1:22.26. 88 years earlier, in a two-horse, $1,300 allowance race at Belmont Park on October 16th, 1906, Roseben covered seven furlongs in 1:22 while carrying 126 pounds. One hundred and five years later, the world record for seven furlongs shared by Rich Cream and Time to Explode in separate victories at Hollywood Park in 1980 and 1982, respectively, was just 2 3/5 seconds faster, 1:19 2/5. They carried 118 and 117 pounds, respectively. Even further back, on September 29th, 1895, Domino captured the Matron Stakes at
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