1-- They went to the modified sulky back in the late 70's, when I was still with Ragozin-- Friedman and I went to the trotters a few times, and came up with a modified sulky adjustment.

But ultimately (and I may go back and add to the piece to explain this), what we are talking about here is sort of net improvement. Over the last 20 years they have gone to a new (supposedly aerodynamic) type of jockey's silks, designed as it happens by Barry Schwartz's wife, and there have been advances in shoeing as well. These things make horses run faster, and will be reflected in the numbers, unless all horses begin using the advancements at exactly the same time, and the effect is exactly the same for all.

2-- When I wrote about this a while back I did use 1 human generation = 4 equine ones, but Cunningham used 11 years for horses, and I figure he knows a whole lot more about equine genetics than I do.



TGJB