Horse Racing

Horse Racing


Bob Ford wrote an interesting column in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the current state of horse racing. The article was triggered by the retirement of Afleet Alex.

The article is here: Philadelphia Inquirer Sports- Bob Ford.

That may require registration and I am not sure how long the link stays valid so here is the money quote:

The Triple Crown series is supposed to be hard. It is supposed to be the great test of a racing champion. Back when horses were bred for endurance and raced heavily, it was still hard. Now, however, when breeding is all about speed rather than durability, when trainers are more inclined to dull pain rather than wait it out, when the richest prizes are still clustered within a brutal five-week period, now the series is a crippler that has to be altered. . .
The problem begins with the fact that a 3-year-old is not a mature horse, but the equine equivalent of a teenager. The body is still developing and changing. But to prepare for the Triple Crown series, the colts must be trained hard and raced in their 2-year-old seasons and then given a stiff set of prep races the following spring just to qualify for the Kentucky Derby field.
Not only is the Derby the doorstep for the Triple Crown, it is the most prestigious U.S. race. Every owner and every trainer wants to be there. Getting the horse ready is paramount.
"You race them early and put pressure on them. If something goes wrong, you're doctoring them up just to get them ready for this one race," trainer Bobby Frankel said. "And if this was another race, you'd pass it. But it's the Kentucky Derby and that's why you get 20 horses."
They race the 11/4-mile Derby, then the 13/16-mile Preakness two weeks later and then the 11/2-mile Belmont three weeks after that. Few can hold up to that schedule and remain sound. The litany of those that never race again is lengthy, robbing the sport of its young superstars.
"It's a grind. There's been a lot of real good horses ruined trying to do this, trying to get ready to do this," Hall of Fame trainer Buddy Delp told Louisville magazine. "Some are pushed too much to make it, and some are not trained enough to make it. It's so grueling on the horse."


Ford suggests the series could be improved by having the horses run at 4 years and spreading the Triple Crown from May to September.

What I find interesting (in especially in view of my recent blog on recovery) is the obvious parallels to many of the discussions runners have about children running, pressure on young athletes, the pressure on elite runners, and yes the pressure we put on ourselves to race and perform (even if not on an elite level).

The lessons for human athletes would be to listen to your body and remember that rest is an important component of training (and not an absence of training) and that we should never put so much into one event that we risk destroying our ability to continue running.