Snell – And The Speed Of Horses

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29744, 10 February 1962, Page 5

Snell - And The Speed Of Horses

The name of Peter Snell seems to crop up everywhere these days—even in articles about racehorses and their speed.

Snell’s name and his achievements occur in an article by an Irish writer, who discusses an English racing man’s contention that racehorses were bred to the limit of their speed 50 years ago.

Writing in the "Irish Field,” "Fleet Street” acknowledges that Mr Peter Burrell, director of the British National Stud, is an authority, but wonders if he has not, perhaps exaggerated a little.

“Fleet Street” writes: “It is true that comparatively little impression has been made on racecourse records over a long period—such lowering of records as there has been he attributes to environment rather than breeding—but in this context one should remember that horses are run to beat other horses rather than to smasn records.

“When Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954, he set out to break through the barrier and was, in fact, paced to do so by the o'her runners in the race. When Peter Snell lowered the mile record to 3min 54.45ec he was trying to set a new time for the distance. If he had merely been attempting to win the race, he would have eased up at the finish and would have been well outs’de the record. “One feels that the records in the racing form book would not last very long if the object of horse racing

became record times instead of winning races. “If this is true one may come to the conclusion that Mr Burrell is not on very firm ground in taking it that the breaking of racing records, in these days, is only because of "improved tracks training methods and the different style of riding races.” Speed and Stamina

“Few people would argue with Mr Burrell when he speaks of the difficulty of breeding the Derby-type horse, which needs both speed and the stamina to stay a mile and a half. Undoubtedly there is the great danger of falling between the two stools of speed and staying power in attempting to produce a Derby winner. “Results seem to suggest that since the war more success has attended French efforts to produce the ideal mile and a half horse than has been attained in England. This may be because of different training methods, at course, but it seems more likely to be due to using different breeding strains. "There may perhaps be a little more to be squeezed out of breeding in the way of improvement of the thoroughbred—at any rate it seems likely that breeders will hope for a long time *o come that something extra good will result from their decisions, rather than expecting merely that the best can be no better than something which has come before.”