Craic On

Racehorses

According to a new study racehorses are not getting any faster – except at sprint distances of between 5 and 7 furlongs.

This ties in with many other studies showing that racehorses have not got any faster since 1950 at distances over 7 furlongs.

There has been no improvement at all in the classic middle distance races of 8-12 furlongs or long distance races of 14-20 furlongs.

This flies in the face of all those expensive selective breeding programmes which are supposed to produce better and better horses.

Horses are not allowed to breed unless they have won a Group 1 race – which are the highest quality races like the Derby, Oaks and the Guineas races , as well as some at Ascot and Goodwood.

Breeding Not so Important

It suits the toffs in racing to believe that breeding is important.

After all they go to great lengths to make sure that they breed in their own class (although less so these days).

They would have seen it as polluting the lineage to have their son or daughter marry a commoner.

if this was true then horses should have been getting faster and faster like humans have.

Humans have improved greatly since 1950 in athletics and other sports.

World records have tumbled since 1950.

Natural Selection & Unnatural Selection

It looks like natural selection, where humans choose mates, based on qualities that they would like passed onto their children that they may not have themselves (OK they’re doing this subconsciously) is a better way of ‘breeding better ones’ than the method of unnatural selection used in horse racing.

Those humans who agree with arranged marriages should take note.

Indeed the greatest advances in the human condition has happened in the last century or so when barriers have broken down and natural selection has replaced unnatural selection which was based on class, in the Western world where most advances have taken place.

There’s food for thought!