1. How many 2yo races were run in each season?
2. What was the breakdown by Types of races?
3. What was the breakdown by Class of race?
4. What was the breakdown by race distances?
5. How many races are run during each month of the season?
6. How has the number of races on All-Weather surfaces changed?

The 2006 season was always slightly behind schedule in terms of number of races run from early April onwards. The very wet October then caused a range of meetings to be abandoned (most which would have included divided 2yo maiden events) to cause the shortfall in number of races. In 2007 Paco Boy won a race also open to 3yos and Kingsgate Native won the all-aged Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes.

Back to Top of Page

Note that the 'Auction' category only covers races where raceweights vary with runners' auction prices. 'Median Auctions' races with normal weight-for-sex raceweights are categorised as 'Maidens'. See the Glossary on this site for an explanation of the difference between 'Maiden' and 'Median' Auction races.

For an explanation of the difference between Group, Classic, Pattern, Listed & 'Black Type' races see the Article on the site covering the 2006 Group Race schedule.

Back to Top of Page

A new race classification was introduced on July 1st 2004 and the remainder of the 2yo races in that season were assigned to their expected Classes under the previous system.
 

Note: Increase in Class 4 over Class 5 in 2006 = racecourses allocating more prize money, mainly to maidens, to lift them into class 4.

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
2005	62	36	40	200	504	141	15
2006	63	42	41	250	432	124	7
2007	61	44	58	268	410	189	0
2008	58	47	48	322	416	157	0
2009	62	49	48	328	454	143	0

At the start of the 2005 turf season a new system was started which split the races into 7 categories based on rating range and race prize money. Only the relatively small number of Nurseries could be split by rating range for 2yos so the majority of races are split by their prize money level, but with two exceptions :-

All Group and Listed races (i.e. the races often referred to as 'black type' level) are in Class 1 regardless of monetary value.

All 'Regional Racing' (now 'Banded') events (i.e. the 0-45 rated lowest level) are in Class 7 and prize money is limited to a low level. (Less than the levels that people were deriding as too low 25 years ago....)

Penalties for previous winners in Novice and Conditions races often take into account the Class of the previous win(s). The majority of 2yos do not win and those that do win only one race. The range of prize money value for maiden races is not wide and a win will not cover training fees in nearly all cases. Therefore the lower Class races can be quite strong because 'a win is a win' and the thrill of a winner is what most owners hope for at best. A win in a lower Class maiden then has the added advantage of attracting a low, or no, penalty in later races and probably a lower Official Rating (for Nurseries) regardless of the actual quality of the winning performance.

Back to Top of Page

5 furlong races are run throughout the season. The longer races currently begin at these points :-

• 6f races used to start at the York May Meeting but there were two earlier races in 2009 on May 9th at Haydock. The longest prior to this is over 5.3f at Brighton. Warwick run 5.5f races from early to mid-May and Bath 5.7f from late May.
• 7f races start in early June (on the 11th in 2009 with a selling race at Yarmouth (the 'Home' of the Juvenile seller...)).
• 8f races start in early to mid August (very early in 2009 with an 8.3f race at Hamilton on the 1st day of the month & 3 others before the 13th.).
• 8.6f races at Wolverhampton start in early September (the 5th in 2009). 9f+ races start in September (on the 14th in 2009 at Redcar). Wolverhampton staged 16 of the 25 races beyond 8.5f in 2009.  The small number of long distance races include two Conditions event at 10f when the Zetland Stakes was downgraded to a Conditions event from Listed level (demotion of Listed races is a notably rare occurence).

Back to Top of Page

Remember that the table above covers 2yo races during the Turf Season from late March to early November. The totals do not include any of the 'Winter AW' meetings which has also seen a notable expansion in recent seasons. The increase in the percentage of 2yo races run on artificial surfaces in 2006-7 is quite startling.

Back to Top of Page