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Originally Posted by hockey2315
But isn't that sort of the point? Horses are getting more fragile, drugs are corrupting the sport, etc. . .
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by the same token, vet care and testing is much better. you can always revisit the old days, and see it wasn't the 'good' old days. horses used to run hopped up on cocaine. a fracture back then was found when the horse broke down-no scans like what they've got today.
thing is, we bitch and moan about lack of racing over the span of a horses career, and them retiring at three before they get good. but go back and scan the old, really good horses' records. man o war ran 21 times, , but retired at three-just like secretariat and count fleet, who was sandwiched between the two eras. seattle slew, 17 races over three years-altho i can't imagine another tc winner running at four. it took four years for war admiral to rack up 26 starts, the most he ran in one year was 11-8 as a three year old, which is comparable to some of todays horses. assault averaged seven races per year....