Bob Trussell wrote an interesting op-ed in today\'s Thoroughbred Daily News, which mentions in passing my comments from \"Are Racehorses Getting Faster\" on this site. Some of the article I agree with and some I don\'t, but two quick comments:
1-- Joe King has no way of knowing whether or not tracks are getting SLOWER, just whether they have changed in nature. Unless you\'re using a drop-hammer to measure actual energy return, the only way to tell is by how fast the horses run. As far as I know King doesn\'t do serious work of that kind, I do.
As a factual matter, as a broad generalization, tracks have changed a lot physically over the last 35 years. Cushions are deeper, sand content in general is higher, clay content lower.
2-- The effect of drugs: one hypothesis Bob did not look at is whether the drugs are making horses run FASTER, and therefore creating more stress that makes horses less sound.
By the way, if I\'m right about this, Hail To Reason and Raise A Native weren\'t sound enough to race past age two. Other unsound racehorses that became top sires are Kris S and Danzig.
One comment on Bill Finley\'s original piece-- Bill and others point out that Onion beat Secretariat while running on less than a week\'s rest. What they fail to mention is the much more relevant fact that Onion then didn\'t run again for about a year.