I agree with Cannon Shell and pba. I think a lot has to do with how they are developed and raced. Everytime one shows a hint of real talent, they start hiding them and spacing their races and the horses aren't allowed to learn to become real racehorses. I believe that they, like other athletes, have to be conditioned for the tasks they are being asked to do and just as practice doesn't do it for players but games do, workouts don't do it for horses but races do.
There's also the fact that the high majority of the 3yos that are running numbers that would suggest they could be 120+ type runners as older horses are retired before they get the chance. What we are then left with are the slower horses moving to the highest levels to fill the voids. For these horses, running 110 is about the right level from where they started out, with natural expected progression with age and experience.
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The real horses of the year (1986-2020)
Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine
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