I\'m posting this only because of the reference to the study that shows horses are running faster. Wouldn\'t mind seing the underlying study.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/sports/17racing.html?_r=2&ref=sports
Those of you who have been reading both sites for a long time might remember a discussion I had with Friedman on their site years ago, where he said that using claiming pars meant you could compare horses from different generations, and I explained that it really meant you could not. By the 2004 Expo he was telling the public they did not use pars, I should have kept my mouth shut.
I got your Rosetta Stone right here.
The last quote in the article is rather absurd.
So if a jockey figures out the best part of the racetrack and makes sure his mount spends some quality time there, this is not a move up?
Happens all the time.