Should two year olds race ?

A racing friend of mine, one of those who subscribe to the anti-whip movement, has asked me to put the following question to the forum:

Should 2 year old horses race, or they should start when three years old and why ?

I don't know.
There have been races for two year olds since ever, including criterion races, so is this a real horse welfare issue or not ?

If 2 yr olds did not run, how could we have an ante post market for the Classics? -

yes

They race because owners are greedy, how many two year olds race as five year olds?

If you push them to race then they probably wont last but if they really show you they are ready and want to race why stop them?

Agree with Craig - that should be the approach with 2yo's

It's a judgement call and there are as many opinions as there are horses.

There are two good reference sources that have informed my opinion on the matter:-

Deb Bennet's (in)famous Ranger Piece

and

The excellent reference book Adams' Lameness which concurs with the growth plate closures suggested by Dr Bennett (excerpts available on Google Books).

Having said that, I think there is a difference between training and conditioning. If there was a better understanding of the latter, I think we might see a lot fewer problems.

I say yes for racing 2yo, but i definitely disagree on racing while in foal