Where are the 2yo's?

Does anyone know why we have the needle to 2yo racing these days?

The Debutante St Gr2 R200,000 only managed to drag 8 horses out of the snug and warm stables this time:

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Sc# Horse Mass MR Draw B A T Jockey Trainer
1 LA PUCELLE 58.0 0 ( 0) 4 A S Randolph Duncan Howells
2 BIG ON BROADWAY 56.0 0 ( 0) 1 A F Coetzee Glen Kotzen
3 BROWN EYED BEAUTY 56.0 0 ( 0) 6 A R Danielson Deon Visser
4 LAS RAMBLAS 56.0 0 ( 0) 5 B A C Taylor James Goodman
5 LEGAL ACCOUNT 56.0 0 ( 0) 7 A *J Jordaan Paul Lafferty
6 MAHBOOBA 56.0 0 ( 0) 3 A K Shea Mike de Kock
7 SIX BLUE NOTES 56.0 0 ( 0) 2 A D Daniels Glen Kotzen
8 WISHFUL EYE 56.0 0 ( 0) 8 A K Zechner Alyson Wright
Couplings: (2,7)
[/code:tunvagel]

Not sure Jack, remember when we had the Bloodline Million the trainers/owners were under pressure to get the 2 year old out and running.

Sure, I appreciate that not EVERY 2yo might be ready.

But this is a fillies race with Gr2 status, it's not going to get any easier. There is black type for the first 3. If 1 other horse accepted to run it has a 33% chance of black type, and this is for R200,000, R125K to the winner.

You get a 6Kg discount if you only won 1 race...6kg! You can't get nobbled by the hcpper because with 6kg off your back you going to get rated 10lbs less than the horse behind you. And these horses are 12 weeks from being a 3yo.

Gold Onyx won R125K from Legislature 40K from poor Magico who had to give 5Kg to both in the Protea Gr3. Archangel Michael got 10k for a 10 length 4th in a field of 7 runners.

2 weeks ago the Gr3 Strelitzia R150K managed to get 5 runners ...a 60% chance of black type and a 20% chance of being a Gr3 winner, bold black type and R100,000. In July (9 months ago) there were 150 horses for sale, say 70 fillies. I looks like only 1 of 70 managed to get to the course to join a field of 5...was there not one other able to run in Natal? It's just amazing.

Stakes paid was wnr: R93750; 2nd: R30000; 3rd: R15000; 4th: R7500 and last: R3750. No one can complain about stakes!

Either there should be queues to buy yearlings because it's never been easier to win proper races,
OR no queues to buy as it's pointless because they never run.

Jack Dash

The irony of the small field issue is, that Strelitzia was moved by 2 weeks because there was only 5 final acceptors. GC had hoped that they would attract a larger field by staging the race at a later date, but the net result was that there was still only 5 runners.
It puzzles me as to why trainers would hold back their fillies, unless they have bigger fish to fry. Or is it the "Wishful Eye" factor

You should never run away from one horse, and anyway the form behind Wishful Eye is weak. She won well, but beat nothing and in any case her last fiasco suggests she has a temperament problem.

From a punting perspective,the small fields in 2yr old races are a bother.If this continues,perhaps the clubs should consider having juvenile races on weekends only.Maybe that will help boost field size.
What are owners reasons for not nominating?

This problem seems to be more prominent in KZN - in Gauteng the Nursery has attracted a full field of fillies - and the schedule makes it unlikely that the Gauteng fillies can run in both the Nursery and the Debutante?