An easy question......with a hard answer.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Actually, an easy answer. Apples and Oranges. The campaigns of International horses running on the grass in short seasons aren't comparable to that of North American horses running on dirt over longer calendar periods. Turf horses that are loping along for front half of races and finishing with a rush aren't under the stress and physical toll dirt horses are running hard and fast for whatever distance.

I know it's clever and fashionable to suggest that North American horses just can't hold up like the so superior International brethren, but it's a fallacious assertion.

i want to ask if this is the case, why is it a relatively new phenomenon? Out horses used to go full seasons, running from February to October and running frequently. This was done without the technological advances we have today. It was routine to see 9+ starts from top horses in a year. What I wonder is if the bigger issue is the amounts of money invested and reduces willingness to risk lowering value by losing? Can't lose if you don't race.

I think that the problems you see in racing here are problems you see across all sports. The new era thinking is that less is better. I grew up watching baseball as many of you probably did. It was customary to see pitchers start 35 games and pitch well over 250 innings per year. Now, if a guy get to 200, it's a milestone. You didn't see so called quality starts being five innings. I see guys pulled out of games while throwing no hitters. Could you imagine a manager coming to the mound to pull a Nolan Ryan or Bob Gipson in some of the situations we see today? It's the same in basketball. It's routine to see guys sit out multiple games per season while healthy. Just for rest. It wasn't that long ago that Michael Jordan at 40 was playing 82 games in his final season.

Just ramblings from me be it seems quite odd that as science and technology has advanced and training and medicine has gotten more sophisticated, our athletes, including horses, are able to do less and less.