How fast can most horses run 5 miles?

Question

How fast can most horses run 5 miles?

Answer 1

Well, the Kentucky Derby is a mile and a quarter and horses run it in 2 minutes or slightly more.  There are 4 mile and a quarters in 5 miles, so it would seem that we could multiply the 2 minutes by 4 and end up with 8 minutes.  But that doesn't work.  Horses run the Derby really fast...  they don't save energy for a long distance.  No horse could continue at that pace for a whole 5 miles.  I'd think that a normal horse (not a race horse) at a medium canter could go 5 miles in about 11-13 minutes...  more or less depending on the horse.

Answer 2

The Grand National is 4 and a half miles and the 2007 running took 9mins 13.6 seconds.  These are very fit horses so an average horse would take longer to run the same distance.

At a guess I'd say a fit racehorse with plenty of stamina could run 5 miles in about 11 minutes.

Answer 3

well, they can run a quarter mile in about 24 seconds... about 1.30 for a mile, so i'd say, along the lines of 7 minutes... but i don't know for sure.