JB-

your article from 2003 is one of the best arguments ever made on the subject. Yet it seems that with all that has transpired since you wrote it, it's a subject that maybe should be revisted?? The profusion of huge negative numbers BEFORE the Derby in the last couple of years would seem to make the point, or at least add some compelling evidence to the argument.

One thing I never understood about Andy Beyers stance that horses are NOT getting faster and are actually becoming more frail over time due to poor breeding, was the fact that at the same time he started saying that you could EASILY go breed a 20YO mare with classic bloodlines to a 24YO stallion, and in essence (from a genetic standpoint) that would instantly take you back in time 20 years to when the breed was supposedly more hearty. In theory then such a mating should consistently produce horses superior to those from younger, more flawed horses. But it doesn't work that way at all.