image: The researchers analysed a large data set of racing records that gave a detailed overview of thoroughbred performance at the elite level since the mid-1800s, and at both the elite level and in the racehorse population as a whole since 1997. view more
Credit: Mick Atkins Photography
Despite a general consensus among scientists and in the racing industry that racehorse speed has plateaued, a new study from the University of Exeter has found that racehorses are getting quicker. Further research is required to determine whether the increased speeds have a genetic basis or are the result of improved training, jockey tactics or other environmental factors.
It had appeared that racehorse speeds were not improving and previous studies concluded that thoroughbred racehorses may have reached the limits of their abilities. However these studies only analysed the winning time of a small number of middle and long distance elite races and did not take factors such as ground softness into account.
The researchers analysed a large data set of racing records that gave a detailed overview of thoroughbred performance at the elite level since the mid-1800s, and at both the elite level and in the racehorse population as a whole since 1997.
The full data set of 616,084 race times run by 70,388 horses shows that race winning speeds have improved greatly since 1850, and increases in speed have been greatest in shorter distance races. Data from 1997-2012 reveal that the improvements in performance are on-going, despite increases in handicap weight, and continue to be driven largely by increases in speeds of sprinters, especially at the elite level.
The slower rate of contemporary improvement in speed over middle and long distances could indicate that horses are reaching a performance limit at these distances or could suggest that breeders favour speed over endurance.
Patrick Sharman from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall said: "There has been a general consensus over the last 30 years that horse speeds appeared to be stagnating. Our study shows that this is not the case and, by using a much larger dataset than previously analysed, we have revealed that horses have been getting faster. Interestingly, both the historical and current rate of improvement is greatest over sprint distances. The challenge now is to find out whether this pattern of improvement has a genetic basis".
The researchers used data from British flat races run on the turf. The year of race, horse speed, timing method (hand-timed or automatic), race distance, racecourse, official going (ground softness), number of runners and name, age and sex of every horse were included in the analysis.
The results showed that historical improvement has not been linear. Rapid improvement occurred in the early 1900s and then again from 1975 to the early-1990s. The rapid improvement in the early 1900s has previously been attributed to an altered riding style, when jockeys assumed a crouched position and rode with shorter stirrups. The rapid improvement through the 1970s and 80s may be a result of jockeys adopting Lester Piggott's style of riding with further shortened stirrups. However, increased commercialisation of racehorse breeding also occurred during this period and thus this rapid increase in speed may be due to genetic improvement.
Further analyses are required to determine whether continued improvement in speed is underpinned by a genetically-based selection response and whether shifting selection strategies might explain these new findings.
Racehorses are getting faster by Patrick Sharman and Alastair J. Wilson is published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
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Image caption and credit: 'Sole Power winning the Nunthorpe Stakes, 2014. Credit: Mick Atkins Photography.
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The University of Exeter is a Russell Group university and in the top one percent of institutions globally. It combines world-class research with very high levels of student satisfaction. Exeter has over 19,000 students and is ranked 7th in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide league table, 10th in The Complete University Guide and 9th in the Guardian University Guide 2015. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), the University ranked 16th nationally, with 98% of its research rated as being of international quality. Exeter was The Sunday Times University of the Year 2012-13.
The University has four campuses. The Streatham and St Luke's campuses are in Exeter and there are two campuses in Cornwall, Penryn and Truro. The 2014-2015 academic year marks the 10-year anniversary of the two Cornwall campuses. In a pioneering arrangement in the UK, the Penryn Campus is jointly owned and managed with Falmouth University. At the campus, University of Exeter students can study programmes in the following areas: Animal Behaviour, Conservation Biology and Ecology, English, Environmental Science, Evolutionary Biology, Geography, Geology, History, Human Sciences, Marine Biology, Mining and Minerals Engineering, Politics and International Relations, Renewable Energy and Zoology.
The University has invested strategically to deliver more than £350 million worth of new facilities across its campuses in the past few years; including landmark new student services centres - the Forum in Exeter and The Exchange at Penryn - together with world-class new facilities for Biosciences, the Business School and the Environment and Sustainability Institute. There are plans for another £330 million of investment between now and 2016. http://www.exeter.ac.uk/cornwall
About the University of Exeter's Centre for Ecology and Conservation (CEC)
Staff at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation, based on the Penryn Campus, undertake cutting-edge research that focusses on whole organism biology. The CEC has three interlinked research groups: Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation, and Evolution which constitute 40 academics and over 100 early career researchers. It engages widely with businesses, charities and government agencies and organisations in Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and beyond to translate its research into societal impact. Staff at the CEC deliver educational programs to some 500 undergraduate and 100 postgraduate students.
A new £5.5 million Science and Engineering Research Support Facility (SERSF) is currently under construction at the Penryn Campus. The facility will bring pioneering business, science and engineering together and will provide space for the growing CEC alongside the University of Exeter Business School, which is expanding into Cornwall, and the University's Marine Renewables team.
The University of Exeter and Falmouth University are founding partners in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique collaboration between six universities and colleges to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One and Convergence), the South West Regional Development Agency and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council. http://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/cec/
Journal
Biology Letters