Times change, the Triple Crown schedule requires a horse to race once every two weeks. Back in the day racing with only two weeks rest was not uncommon. Today it is practically unheard of. Look at the schedule great horses (Kelso, Forego) of the past had. No trainer today would even think about such a schedule for their horses. 2 reasons, Today's thoroughbreds (USA) are bred for speed not endurance. A hard race takes a lot out of a horse and the horse requires more then 2 weeks to recover from the effort. Then the horse needs to be trained up to it's top performance level about a 6 week effort for a modern USA Thoroughbred. The great 3yos of today race 6 or 7 times in a season. Forego as a 3 year old raced 18 times. Many of those races were handicaps where Forego carried a lot more weight then the other older horses. I am getting carried away about my all time favor racehorse Forego
see him in action Forego wins marlboro " Arguably, the greatest performance ever outside of Secretariat's Belmont. Forego carrying 137 pounds and Honest Pleasure, a phenomenal 3-year-old, carrying only 119. Incredible!
Forego is the great uncle to one of my other favorite racehorses Zenyatta. If you've never seen Zenyatta in action treat yourself to her greats hits