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Interesting Article in RP from McClean about the Irish Derby tomorrow. He points out that the Curragh Derby, contrary to popular opinion is actually less of a stamina test as its shorter and run in a quicker time.
I was surprised. I was wondering though if its possible that stamina is not entirely related to length of a course. Is is possible to have a shorter/quicker race that places greater emphasis on stamina due to other reasons. For example a punishing uphill finish. I would be interested in hearing from the track experts.SHL
Many things influence stamina SHL, distance raced over only one.
Going: Softer the ground the more stamina needed.
Pace: Provided the horse settles – slower the pace the less stamina is needed.
Course: Hilly course requires more stamina than flat courses. If the finish is uphill then even more so.English National often requires less stamina than the Welsh version.
2012 Welsh National, 3 miles 5 furlongs 110 yards (29.5f) on a hilly racecourse and heavy was run in 7 mins 55.8 secs (475.8 secs). Therefore, 475.8 ‘/, 29.5 means it was run at an average of 16.13 secs per furlong.
2013 Aintree Grand National, 4 miles 3 furlongs 110 yards (35.5f) on a flat racecourse and good-soft was run in 9 mins 12 secs (552 secs). Therefore, 552 ‘/, 35.5 means it was run at an average of 15.55 secs per furlong.
So on average each Aintree furlong was run over half a second (0.58) faster than each Chepstow furlong.
Value Is EverythingA racecourse doesn’t give or take stamina away from a horse, well in a sense it does! a stiff racecourse will take away stamina from a horse quicker than an easy course.
The key point in this deduction is, by running at The Curragh your horse will not improve their stamina more than say running at a course such as Bath.
Hence there’s no causation between The Curragh and a horse’s stamina hence the article doesn’t address the question properly and comes to a invalid conclusion (Type 1).
Turns take more out of a horse than straightaways. There’s a big difference between a 1-turn mile and a 2-turn mile; the former is often considered a sprint, while the latter is lumped in with route races. Hence the Metropolitan Mile at Belmont is often won by sprinters, while the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile (when run at Santa Anita or Churchill) is often won by older horses who aren’t good enough in the Classic.
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