Over the years I have shocked many an audience filled with owners of Thoroughbred racehorses by informing them that a 2-year-old horse is four years away from maturity.

only to the fusion of “growth plates” in the lower joints of the limbs, but to the overall spongy quality of juvenile bone---and to the fact that no conditioning process whatsoever can speed up the overall process of bone maturation. While I have heard experienced track veterinarians lament the fact that “we are breeding the legs and feet right off these horses,” I would submit that 90 percent of performance-enhancing drug use at the track---both licit and illicit---would disappear if 2-year-olds could not race.

There is, moreover, an urgent need for more longer races, which tend to attract older horses and those possessed of greater stamina and soundness. Track facilities that can accommodate such races may have to be built, and purses need to be hefty enough---in the $5 million range---to