\"The Thoroughbred horse probably hasn\'t changed as much as tracks have\"
Sight,
I only wish I knew how to put up the lifetime pp\'s of Dr.Fager and discuss the ahem,modern figs.Track speed/composition/maintenance of course included.Pound for pound Dr.Fager was arguably the fastest horse that ever lived, entire body of work considered and of course speed figs.
Most dirt tracks are slower by composition/maintenance today, more so since the Eight Belles breakdown.Santa Anita dirt,being tweaked fairly often, might be the exception by accident,they wanted it slower.
Breakdowns, owners/horsemen/public outcry, has forced tracks to abandon the wow surface factor, i.e.freaky fast raw times run by fast horses on glib surfaces.Seen the horses and studied the figures like forever and conclude Beyers figs have stayed in range of old figs but are faster overall with very few monster Beyer figs compared to back when. Rag figs have gotten faster,TG figs have gotten much faster, the horses???
I fall on the side that horses are overall marginally faster(esp todays claimers vs yester-years), though for whatever reason, turf horses from todays modern gene pool have become common slowish slugs,for the most part, not improving a step overall, a few exceptions.
Exhume Dr.Fager, he\'ll still embarrass these slugs.
Mike
