We have the same problem here in OZ and I blame the huge prizemoney offered for the GR1 2 year old races, the Blue Diamond Stakes The Golden Slipper etc. Some of these baby's are having 10 to 12 starts as 2 year olds over distances ranging from 5 furlongs to 1 mile.
When they come out for their 3 year old campaigns its obvious that these horses are permanently sore and have done lifelong damage to bones and ligaments as a result of their rigerous 2 year old careers. The European horses are the hardiest horses in the world, most don't race until they are 3 and then its likely to be 4 to 5 starts and then they're put away till next season. Even their trackwork is the opposite to ours, we run our horses hard and fast in trackwork ( more stress and strain on bones etc) whereas the European horses are gallopped leisurely for miles over the countryside, building up bones and muscles. When Irish trainer Dermott Weld Brought Vintage Crop to Australia for the 1993 Melbourne Cup, our trainers laughed at him and said that no horse could win first up over 2 miles, besides the English horses aren't tough like our Aussie stayers ( V/Crop was a 7 year old and had had less race starts than most of our 3 year olds). When Vintage Crop cut loose at the furlong pole he made our stayers look like they were tied to the fence, he was just getting warmed up while the Aussie horses were almost dead from exhaustion. The bottom line is that the ridiculous prizemoney on offer is forcing trainers to push their horses to the limit for short term gains rather than train them as a long term investment.
