[kentuckyrosesinmay]

Looking at the performances of the horses in the thirties, forties, and fifties, I must say that I believe the biggest culprit of unsoundness in the breed are the track surfaces themselves. For example, Man O' War ran two to three seconds slower than the horses do today, and still broke world records at the time. Yet, maiden claimers can run faster nowadays. It is all about speed and new records.

Also, I think drugs and medications as well as the two year old in training sells cause more horses to be unsound and break down.

Now, there is a possibility that the breed may be slightly weaker than it was seventy years ago, but I don't think that is the factor. Of course, if you breed an unsound horse to an unsound horse, the most likely result is going to be an unsound horse especially if both of these horses are prepotent, but genetics don't always work like that. Species evolve gradually, and seventy years is not enough to cause the breed to be considerably weaker. Also, I believe that the trainers are as good as they have ever been.

With that being said, horses have always been unsound and have broke down. I just don't think it happened quite as often seventy years ago, but who knows. Every once in a while, we get a horse that can run like those in the past here in the states. Look at Lawyer Ron, and Cigar. Sure Lawyer Ron had a surgery, but he is back on the track and winning. You also have lots of claimers and allowance horses who run quite often without injuries as well.