Is the winner always the fastest horse in the race?

Question

Can a horse's desire to win and how the jockey rides affect who wins?

Answer 1

No, it's not always the fastest horse and yes certainly there can be other factors such as the horse's desire to win and how the jockey rides.

As the first answer said, a horse that runs extra distance and gets beat by a nose is the faster horse, but second nonetheless.

The horse's desire to win and how the jockey rides are two different tings.  A horse's desire to win makes the horse the fastest.  Look at Seabiscuit beat War Admiral... note that War Admiral ran the fastest race of his career in that race but was beat by 4 lengths.  Because he wanted to win, Seabiscuit made himself run faster.  Look at Ruffian win the Sorority Stakes... she popped a splint at the start of that race...  Hot N Nasty came up beside her but Ruffian wasn't having any horse head her...  Ruffian ran that race on the will to win and made herself the faster.

How the jockey rides is also extremely important but he doesn't make his horse faster... he gives his horse the advantage to beat the faster...  The best example is the 1980 Preakness.  Here's the link to the video if you'd like to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5FX8lRb-...

In that race, I have no doubt that Genuine Risk was going to win...  Angel Cordero Jr riding Codex floated Genuine Risk out from the rail into the middle of the track... it's also pretty certain that he hit her with the whip in the eye.  When a rider floats another horse that wide, it gives the horse a huge disadvantage and makes the faster horse lose the race.  That's something that Cordero did almost everyday... he'd use his horse to s***w other horses out of a win.  When Gary Stevens was a young rider, Cordero did that to him but Gary refused to move so his horse clipped heels with Cordero's then Cordero tried to get Gary to come defend him at the hearing... Gary went but the panel told him he didn't need to be there if he didn't want to be, so Gary left and Cordero got suspended!  That's my boy, Gary!!  :o)

If you accept this story as how Man O War lost his only race to Upset, Upset's jockey said that Man O War was boxed in behind him and he could have come off the rail to let MOW through, but he chose not to and by the time MOW got out of the box it was too late for him to get to the lead.

Some people say that Arcaro beat Swaps in the 1955 match race between Swaps and Nashua.  Nashua couldn't catch Swaps in the Derby that year, so for the match, they decided to take Nashua out early to the lead... every time Shoemaker tried to bring Swaps up, Arcaro hit Nashua to push him forward...  their tactics paid off.

Jockeys' mistakes can cost their horses the race too...  Shoemaker lost the Kentucky Derby for Gallant Man in 1957.  As he passed the sixteenth pole, Shoemaker stood up in the stirrups, thinking that pole was the finish line.  That gave Iron Liege the advantage he needed to win by a nose.

Jockeys can also do good things to make their own horse faster... like Calvin Borel will always guide his horse along the rail so that they cover less distance than all the other horses in the race.

Answer 2

the horse with the best trip..will win 80% of the time

if you have the fastest horse and it gets trap behind

a slow horse, by the time it's goes around the slow

horse, the second fastest horse will be long gone......

Answer 3

No, the fastest horse doesnt always win, luck in running plays a huge part.

The best example of how a jockey can affect a horses performance is shown in the reasoning why apprentice jockeys are given weight allowances for their lack of race riding experience and acumen. In Australia, an inexperienced or apprentice jockey can be given up to a 9lb advantage over a senior jockey with his apprentices " claim ".

Answer 4

kmnmiamisax answer, or at least the whining about Codex is absurd. Look at the video. No interference, no DQ, the race was fair. As far as Man O' War, the reason the horse lost the race was because he was not even in the starting gate when the race began. There was too much time to make up. I guess the jockeys are just supposed to let any horse pass and/or get track position if they feel like it - absurd !

Answer 5

There are a lot of different things that can affect the outcome of a race. Yes, speed is a major one, but not always the case. The fastest horse could be stuck behind the pack, and not be able to pull ahead. But the jockeys riding, the horses motivation (or desire) the horses training, the horse endurance, and many other things affect who wins. The fastest horse could also have the worst jockey, or less quality training. You never know =]  Hope this helps!

Answer 6

of course not it can be but crowding of horses can slow down other horses looking for that perfect trip

Answer 7

No, a lot of horses that are the fastest don't win.

Typically the reason why the best horse gets beat is either trouble (caught behind other horses) or running extra distance (say you have to race 4 wide around the far turn, you are going to run 2 more lengths that the horse on the rail, if that horse beats you by a neck, then the extra distance costs you the race)

Sometimes this might be the jockeys fault, but a lot of times it is bad racing luck.