How does that make sense? If PEDs work, how does Secretariat still have the KY Derby record of 1:50!? The pharma is better, the training is better, the training is better, the genetics are better.
At a loss...
How does that make sense? If PEDs work, how does Secretariat still have the KY Derby record of 1:50!? The pharma is better, the training is better, the training is better, the genetics are better.
At a loss...
Are the PEDs better now for horses? Are you sure?
Secretariat ran FIVE back-to-back 1/4 miles, each one faster than the prior. No PED horse will ever manage that. His splits were: 25-1/5, 24 flat, 23-4/5, 23-2/5 and 23 flat. That was never done before, and has never been duplicated.
jfrb wrote:
the genetics are better.
Are they? You might get more fast horses with inbreeding, but do you get more EXTREMELY fast horses? Could be the opposite.
Secretariat was a genetic freak of nature. His heart was estimated to have weighed 22 pounds (never weighed at the necropsy but observers were said to be stunned by it's size) and was roughly double the size of a normal race horse's heart. His dam line traces back to an 18th century stallion named Eclipse that was found to have an oversized heart and many broodmares sired by Secretariat and their offspring also show this trait.
Was he gelded??
Likely pumped full of T if in the 70s
The steroids worked just as well then. Athletes just have to pick ones that don't show up in tests.
ozboi wrote:
Was he gelded??
Likely pumped full of T if in the 70s
No, he wasn't gelded. What an obviously easily answered question. Was he on some kind of PED? Probably. They all were, and are. And today's PEDs are far superior to the seventies. And that is why he is unquestionably the greatest horse ever.
Portland Hobby Jogger wrote:
Secretariat was a genetic freak of nature. His heart was estimated to have weighed 22 pounds (never weighed at the necropsy but observers were said to be stunned by it's size) and was roughly double the size of a normal race horse's heart. His dam line traces back to an 18th century stallion named Eclipse that was found to have an oversized heart and many broodmares sired by Secretariat and their offspring also show this trait.
Freak of nature is the opposite of breeding. Breeding eliminates freaks of nature, it doesn't create them.
As for the heart thing, if his descendants still have it, why aren't they as fast? Then it wasn't the heart.