Things are becoming easier at all levels.
Look at some of the trainers at the cheap New York track, Finger Lakes this meet:
James S. Acquilano (82-40-14-10) 49% wins
Chris J. Englehart (122-50-34-11) 41% wins
Jeremiah C. Englehart (81-31-16-14) 38% wins
Charlton Baker (80-28-13-13) 35% wins
James T. Wright (31-10-12-5) 32% wins and 71% in exacta.
Michael S. Ferraro (62-17-12-12) 27% wins
You'll see races where five horses in the same race have different trainers winning at over 30% for the meet.
It's like a capitalism VS communism debate -- but in pro sports -- communism works better.
The Super Bowl winner is punished and has to draft 32nd overall. They have to play the tougher schedule next year. The team with the worst records draft highest and play an easier non conference schedule.
Ever since horse racing has drifted further and further away from handicaps -- it has resulted in softer, easier racing...where the best horses and trainers are no longer devalued by a competitive balance.
Handicaps are a huge part of what made trainers run horses. They were also stiff punishments that would truly devalue dominant horses at all class levels.
A horse like Rapid Redux would have been giving 45lbs away in the old days. A horse like Zenyatta would have had had to carry three bowling balls more in her saddle than she did in those narrow wins over terrible females like Rinterval and Anabaa's Creations. She gave just 4lbs to those horses.
After the 3yo classics, you have very few weight for age events. Horses had to either retire or run ... and defeats were absolutely inevitable and sometimes even welcomed early on by trainers of top horses coming back to keep their imposts under control for the more important races.
A lot of times, the goal was to win by as narrow a margin as comfortably possible and to make it look like the jockey was busier than he was. Sometimes the jockey would even still be selling it after the race. They'd pretend like they can't carry the saddle because it's too heavy and Hollywood it up.
The small-fry trainers with the cheap horses would run the living sh!t out of their horses.
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