Whirlaway,
I'm sort of confused as to how you could not find data on Langfuhr who was a very fast horse winning three GR I's (all in the US) and was named champion spinter in Canada. He only missed placing in 6 of his 23 starts and handed the very well-regarded Elusive Quality his a** (excuse my editted French) twice in GR I company and given that he's standing at Lane's End along with his son Wando (a champion and Triple Crown winner in Canada), he's not exactly hiding in a hole.
I certainly wouldn't call Langfuhr a mediocre racehorse by any stretch.
2006 Derby Contenders: Thoroughbred Times Pedigree Profiles
Moderators: Roguelet, hpkingjr, WaveMaster
Pete,
You can answer this or anybody who wants to can chime in. I kinda got to wondering about this via your mtDNA discussion but it's kinda a little off track. The fight or flight thing fed into it. I was thinking about how horses have to run away from predators...suppose we assume that the genes that got passed on back in the day were the ones most effective for accomplishing escape or what have you. In considering what we think of as closers, I wondered where those genes or what have you factored into keeping them alive. Surely a horse that didn't have a certain speed early didn't get away as much. Where would it benefit a horse to be average or hang back early only to kick in a mile and a half to two miles later at the earliest?
I assume there must be some reason that mother nature made some horses not quite so quick early on but not necessarily plodders. I'm sure there are things I'm not considering but I was hoping someone understood what I was talking about and had theories. I figure plodders would normally be weeded out by natural selection but I'm not really talking about that because ultimately, the closers aren't slow. Not to be crude but at a mile and a quarter, in May 7, 2005, Giacomo would not have been eaten by wolves,etc.
You can answer this or anybody who wants to can chime in. I kinda got to wondering about this via your mtDNA discussion but it's kinda a little off track. The fight or flight thing fed into it. I was thinking about how horses have to run away from predators...suppose we assume that the genes that got passed on back in the day were the ones most effective for accomplishing escape or what have you. In considering what we think of as closers, I wondered where those genes or what have you factored into keeping them alive. Surely a horse that didn't have a certain speed early didn't get away as much. Where would it benefit a horse to be average or hang back early only to kick in a mile and a half to two miles later at the earliest?
I assume there must be some reason that mother nature made some horses not quite so quick early on but not necessarily plodders. I'm sure there are things I'm not considering but I was hoping someone understood what I was talking about and had theories. I figure plodders would normally be weeded out by natural selection but I'm not really talking about that because ultimately, the closers aren't slow. Not to be crude but at a mile and a quarter, in May 7, 2005, Giacomo would not have been eaten by wolves,etc.
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana"
