Are racehorses getting faster - new discussion

[colt]

Found an interesting blog/article to stir up the old \"Are racehorses getting faster?\" discussion again - previously discussed in the archive.  
http://horsetrainingscience.blogspot.com/2010/11/triple-crown-times-have-not-improved-in.html

[Dana666]

Interesting thesis which would seem to contradict the t-g sheets assertion that horses are much faster than they were years ago. It would be strange though to believe that horses, unlike all other professional athletes in all sports, have not gotten faster? I mean you take the Olympic gold medal winner\'s time in the 100 yard freestyle from decades ago and a good high school swimmer beats that today. Doesn\'t really make sense that they\'re not faster. In every sport the performance is so much stronger. Does it mean that I think Barry Bonds or Mark McGuire were better than Babe Ruth? Hell no. I think the athletes of the past were better simply b/c they didn\'t have all the innovations shall we say in training. The modern horse is much more frail, but there are so many factors that go into the equation. On thing for sure, the drugs weaken the animals. Look at all the complications in drugs in humans? 100,000+ people every year die from properly prescribed prescription drug interactions and side-effects. Why wouldn\'t it be the same with horses? I think humans and horses are a much less hearty breed. We couldn\'t compete with the people of past generations for toughness, though we\'re much stronger. Strength and performance are funny qualities to measure from one generation to the next. Take our soldiers today - they are so much better trained than any soldier from the past but could they fight in the conditions that say rev. war troops had to deal with? Can you imagine fighting without proper or any shoes during the winter? Freezing, with not enough food? It is a different kind of toughness, not always measurable.

[Footlick]

Also the facilities in Track and Field and Swimming have improved by leaps and bounds.  That has been a big contributing factor in those two sports.

[Bet Twice]

Tough to draw conclusions based upon raw times - the race surface has obviously changed considerably over the past 40-50 years.  Comparing apples to oranges.

[TGJB]

The voice of reason. I cover this extensively in the original piece that can be found in the Archives section of this site.

On a quasi-related note (only because of Bill Finley\'s article about horses being less sturdy), does anyone have pp\'s for Onion or Prove Out that would tell us how they did AFTER beating Secretariat on short rest?

[barn rabbit]

does any body have any suggestions on this race?  alot of horses are off big jumps to new tops.  not sure how to analyze these.  the one horse I\'m sure of is The braveheart.  he has nice spacing and is consistent.  any help with this race would be appreciated.

[marcus]

Funny but I thought the new Trakus technology would help clear up the picture a bit and lend itself to answering some of these questions - maybe it\'s too early to say   . ..

[BB]

Onion never won another stakes. Six weeks after the Woodward upset he finished 4th behind Secretariat in the Marlboro Cup. His physical problems returned and his career ended in low level claimers. From Wikipedia, which has a 1998 Finley article as one of the sources.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_(horse)

Prove Out followed up his Woodward upset by beating Riva Ridge in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. He won another stake the next spring, but was retired after physical problems surfaced and he suffered three straight defeats. From Haskin.

http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2008/08/04/The-Unbeatable-Horse.aspx