JUVENILES

Two-year-old dashes and sprints are won by juveniles that have recorded the fastest adjusted final times. Actual times, of course, must be modified by the day's sprint variant. An advantage of one fifth of a second can be conclusive.

Juveniles of spring and summer run as fast as they can for as long as they can. The fastest horses win. Pace is relatively unimportant. If a two-year-old can settle behind the unrestrained swift of a couple of speedballs, and then accelerate strongly at the quarter pole, winning in brilliant time, that's the most impressive kind of juvenile victory. That suggests the youngster can be rated. It will not necessarily be burned out on the uncontrollable pace of a crucial juvenile stakes.

Jockey, weight, and post position are virtually meaningless in juvenile sprints. Gate ability helps, but the finer riding skills of handling and timing hardly matter. Before weight is felt, the race is over. And the fastest juveniles will quickly recover any ground lost to a wide post position.

Form is similarly secondary. Juveniles are relatively sound, trim, and in sharp competitive condition. Workouts should be regular, with a few of them promising genuine speed. If juveniles train out of the gate, subtract a second from the workout time. Repeated gate works may indicate a problem in the gate. Do not bet on two-year-olds that appear in front-leg bandages.

Although effective speed handicapping gets to the guts of two-year-old sprints quickly and reliably, the races are normally complicated by the appearance of well-connected, nicely bred, fast-working first starters.

Handicappers can evaluate debuting juveniles in four ways:

1. Sires' win percentages with first-starting 2YOs
2. Trainers' win percentages with first-starting 2YOs
3. Workout patterns
4. Tote-board action

Prefer sires that win with 15 percent or better of their first-starting two-year-olds. If a sire wins impressively with juveniles but the trainer does not, credit the sire. Unlike the conditioning of first-starting three-year-olds, the trainer's task with juveniles is straightforward and uncomplicated, at least in preparation for the early sprints. A select list of the most productive juvenile sires can be found periodically in the Daily Racing Form. Local sires are equally as crucial to evaluate as the national leaders.

A few trainers specialize in polishing the speed of precocious two-year-olds. They win the dashes and sprints of spring and summer season after season. Credit these trainers during those times.

Workouts, of course, should be regular and sharp. The best is a five-furlong move of genuine speed. If shorter works have been fast but longer workouts slow, that's a red flag. When asked to do so, almost all nonclaiming juveniles can deliver a fancy turn of speed for three or four furlongs.

If racegoers know that juveniles worked in company and finished in front, that's a positive sign.

Betting action on first-starting juveniles should always be regarded seriously. Until the juveniles reveal themselves on the racetrack, they remain the exclusive property of horsemen, clockers, and stable hands. These people may want to wager on their good ones. So will associates, friends, and loved ones that have been tipped. It's a glorious tradition.

As a standard of respectable time, the adjusted final times of juvenile sprinters should fall within three seconds of the track-record for the distance. If that standard is invoked, impressive first-starters will be required to run reasonably fast to win, after all.

If a two-year-old has already run within 2 2/5 seconds of the track record for the distance (adjusted time), it should be expected to withstand the challenge of first starters. The fast experienced horse is even likely to improve its final time, notably if it started sluggishly or raced wide around the far turn.

By midsummer, two-year-olds will be competing at six furlongs. If the front end will be contested by three or more juveniles, prefer the horse that can be rated behind the pace. If just two two-year-olds will contest the early pace, prefer the fastest horse.

If the pace at six furlongs will be hotly contested, and none of the juveniles can be rated kindly, prefer horses that have been closing strongly from behind at 51/2 furlongs but running out of room. A come-from-behind running style does not flatter juveniles, unless the stretch run has been conspicuously powerful and today's pace will be faltering.

The divide between the sprints and routes for two-year-olds is enormous. Excepting the top layer of the division and potentially outstanding racehorses that impress tremendously as juveniles, and normally will accomplish whatever is asked of them, two-year-olds that win the routes generally will not be the same horses that won the sprints.

A perfectly rational strategy in juvenile routes prefers the early speed. As mentioned, the majority of two-year-olds will run as fast as they can for as long as they can. Few juveniles of fall will have learned how to conserve speed and energy while running relaxed behind the pace. Instead, most juveniles chase.

Few of them arrive in the stretch with a final kick. Early-speed horses may be tiring, but many of them continue on to victory.

The cheaper the juvenile route race, the more likely early-speed horses will control the race from wire to wire. If the price looks inviting, so do juvenile route contenders with high early speed.

Of two-year-old form, the juveniles share a tendency to improve tremendously or deteriorate dramatically. If a two-year old dispenses an inexplicably dull performance, do not expect a form reversal. Unlike the consistently inconsistent three-year-olds, two-year-olds should always be rated off the latest race unless clearly excusable.

Among two-year-olds in acceptable form, days away between races should be of no concern. Juvenile form perseveres. The rested two-year-olds will run as fast, or faster, than they had prior to the respite.

"Blinkers on" can be a positive sign among juveniles, especially among horses that have been demonstrating improved early speed or increasingly faster final times. The blinkers focus concentration, and the horses respond by running straighter and faster. If juveniles have been breaking poorly when bet strongly, and put blinkers on, several will now break smoothly, and at higher odds.