Sports Science: Is Racing On Board?

Trainer James Tate | Goffs UK

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   Any lover of modern cycling will attest to the prevalence of science and data in all discussions of the sport, with frequent mention of wattage, power-to-weight ratio, lactate threshold, VO2Max and other measurements now within the common vernacular. It was not always so, however. Roll back to pre-2008 and there was still very little understanding of what made a great cyclist, just a certain set of values known collectively as “the knowledge” where the climbing and time-trialling deities were seen as just that, talismanic beings with an unknown quantity that elevated them above the rest. Then along came Team Sky and its revolution paired with the infamous “marginal gains” and the pursuit was never to be the same.

At the end of the 2000s, Australia's former swimming team sports scientist Tim Kerrison entered the fray at Team  Sky and brought his concept of “reverse periodisation” into play. It challenged the traditional way of preparing steadily for a peak during the season and adding intensity as it wore on, with the emphasis instead on intensity or strength and speed training first and then the conditioning elements on top. In 2012, Bradley Wiggins brought the scientific method to its logical conclusion by winning the Tour de France and he was duly followed by multiple champion Chris Froome and others.

In comparison with cycling, or tennis, or even football, it appears at first sight that horse racing is decades behind with regards to sports science usage in measuring performance. That impression is partly due to the lack of discussion about the methods used in what has at times been termed the “dark art” of training racehorses. To the outsider or casual observer, it seems a sport which often leans on its own version of “the knowledge”, sticking resolutely to time-honoured and sometimes ancient principles and regulations.

That is not to say that sports science, which in other pursuits revolves mainly around the understanding of the capacity of the athlete in question, does not exist in racing. It does. There are an abundance of instruments and gadgets available and in use every day along with a plethora of ways to measure a horse's well-being or otherwise. However, where the arena of cycling saw dramatic change there has been only a quiet evolution brought about by way of sports science in this sphere. Where are its limits? Can it ever rise to prominence in this sport, where its main protagonist can neither express spoken contentment nor discomfort nor has the value of human ambition?

There was obviously enough impetus for exploration of these types of questions in a recent study published in the journal Comparative Exercise Physiology. Titled, “Sport science relevance and integration in horseracing: perceptions of UK racehorse trainers”, the work of H. Richardson, R. Collins and J.M. Williams was published online last April.

Firstly, and this will come as no surprise to anyone who works at the coal face of a busy racing yard, particularly one of the bigger ones, the uptake was small with just 6% of the 178 trainers reached out to agreeing to participate. As the study outlined, the profession is often overwhelmed with task management and therefore any real insight into how racing stables implement scientific strategies is limited. That led me to think, is time the biggest problem? Trainer James Tate, who is also a vet, put it like this: “If you spent too much time looking at heart rates and sectional times, you might miss what's in front of you. You get that split second when each horse comes past you at the top of the gallop each day and you can't get that back.”

Let's just say that in a virtual, parallel world of horse racing that connections, and to some extent the press, fans, punters and pundits were au fait with a kind of biological passport of the racehorse. That its heart rate and lactate threshold were available for intellectual digestion. Would we be able to use this data for any meaningful purpose? Going back to cycling, the rider can provide spoken feedback when at threshold and when in the famed “red zone”, can offer insight into the pain and relative comfort of the exercise. Would it have been beneficial to connections to have scientifically measured the internal workings of Frankel (GB)? Could we have better understood the physiology of the Juddmonte great with more science married to the visual nature of his amazing performances?

One of the most common methods of measuring horse performance is the heart-rate monitor, of which the Salisbury-based trainer and vet Jeremy Naylor is an exponent. As long ago as 1999, the horses under his care worked within “heart rate zones” during interval training made possible by electrode pads, a transmitter and rider's wrist-watch monitor.

“It was applying science to racing,” he said. “I could tell the rider, who had a GPS watch, to exercise the horse at set speeds depending on how relatively hard it was for the horse. It was totally the sensible thing to do and a quantum leap forward with regards to the ability to train horses scientifically. My perspective is that it is such a waste not to use them in training. You don't have to revolutionise what you do day-to-day, but a good monitor makes a big difference.”

Naylor also employed regimental blood sampling after exercise, to give the lactate levels of his horses via his on-site veterinary clinic. More evidence of how to fine-tune the equine athlete and its maximal aerobic capacity, which is that VO2max term again. As the aforementioned study states, “The importance of understanding detail on the aerobic and anaerobic training phases and metabolic demands of fitness to underpin equine performance are well-documented. This is something not explored by the trainers in this study who generally applied a subjective and observational approach to assessment of equine performance rather than utilising objective measures.”

James Tate has some thoughts on this: “Using sports science in training is a helpful exercise, but sometimes technology can confuse, for example with blood testing,” he said. “It is only a snapshot of the horse's blood at that specific time and you can tie yourself up in knots. Heart-rate monitors have been around for years, as has the timing of horses and lactic acid analysis, but they haven't proven ground-breaking with horses. I found them all interesting and absolutely crucial to continued professional development (CPD) and I've done trials that have made me really think, but horses can't talk and I think a lot of people feel that you mustn't miss what's in front of your eyes. You look at signs all day every day and if a horse looks well, is good in its coat, has rippling muscle and works well, it tends to run well.”

Fellow trainer John Berry agrees. “A lot more sports science has come into it in recent times, but while data is very useful I found it was only confirming what I already knew,” he says.

One firm among many that provide monitors is EquinITy, which offers a tool to exact a horse's stride and heart rate measurement via a lightweight girth sleeve. It can take into account distance, split times, strides-per-furlong, stride length, speed, location and altitude and give information regarding heart rate (both maximum and average) and recovery time with real-time streaming to any web-enabled device. On the website's testimonials page, Lambourn-based trainer Ed Walker explains how the monitor was invaluable in measuring his stable's runner in Australia from afar. “To be able to see sectional times and assess what was going on 'under the bonnet' of a horse who was 10,000 miles away certainly gave me a lot more confidence as well as my lass,” it reads. “She was able to see her work on the computer immediately after exercise which helped her carry out instructions to the letter.”

Ed Walker expanded on this when I spoke to him this week. “Where tools like that have become invaluable is when you are traveling a horse around the world and you can watch a live stream of their work while you are in your office,” he said. “That is absolutely fantastic and a massive help, but when it comes to looking at all horses' data every day you'd need a full-time translator at work. Science has always interested me, but without sounding too cliched the more I train the less I follow the numbers and the more I follow my gut.”

He goes on, “Weighing horses, measuring heart rates, recovery times and lactate are all useful and have their place in building a picture, but you can end up getting yourself too confused. You can run every test under the sun and you will find something negative. Whether it's a scope, bloods or change in stride length, sometimes too much information can be dangerous.”

There obviously exists an understandable tendency among the training profession to avoid what can be a seen as an overwhelming flood of information. However, there is confidence within the sector supplying monitoring equipment that the course has already been set. Keith Hanson of EquinITy said he has no doubt that the technology he and others provide is heading for large scale use. “It is going to happen. It is a fact,” he says. “When a horse doesn't run as expected, this can take away that grey area for owners and take the pressure off trainers if they share the information. In Britain, this is a culture change but we have a lot of clients in Australia who are a bit more technological and Danny O'Brien is one of our clients. We've done extensive work with the Hong Kong Jockey Club and have units in the U.S., Japan, as well as Singapore, so this technology is around the world.”

Time is not the only issue holding back the science, however. It also goes without saying that it comes at a cost and, as John Berry outlines, this is obviously a factor in its take-up by smaller yards. “Some trainers are working on very low margins and spending on this type of equipment might make the difference between running at a profit or a loss,” he states.

“If I did regular blood testing I'd be concerned it was prohibitively expensive,” Berry added. “I'd be suspending horsemanship and all that I'm meant to have learnt down the years, looking at all the vital signs. I'd feel slightly uncomfortable treating horses like lab rats and I prefer to go on my gut. When Criquette Head was at her peak, it was seen as a virtue not to rely on science but on an experienced horsewoman's eye.”

That last sentiment is backed up by the findings of the study, which stated that the “primary method for performance monitoring” by trainers “was via visual observation of their horses during exercise”.

Ed Walker explains it like this: “You can't replace horsemanship, that's the most important part of it,” he said. “You can stick a heart-rate monitor on, but the horse can't tell you that it's not feeling great. A horse can work great going into a big race, but you find that it took two-and-a-half minutes for its heart rate to drop below 120 and it puts all sorts of doubts into your mind. I don't think it solves the age-old question of how to train a horse. There are lots of other factors, such as keeping the horse sound in body and mind and I think you are no better a trainer or worse without it.”

There are also other avenues that modern-day trainers can go down for extra guidance. DNA screening, bone scanning and lighting systems are just three. James Tate has thoughts on all of them: “A bone scan which measures bone turnover within the body of the horse can indicate a fracture, normal athletic remodeling and everything in between,” he says. “All the genetic work is interesting, to see whether a horse is (one of the three possible genetic combinations) C/C, C/T or T/T, and that is another application of science. Lighting is there to get horses more forward in their coats, cheating them into thinking its spring earlier. Does it make them run any faster? I don't know. We get sales reps here all the time and you have to ask a) what is the mode of action of what you are selling and b) who's using it?”

There is obviously a long way to go for sports science terminology to enter the racing vocabulary as it does in others. Longstanding phrases such as “the horse needed a run,” or “had an off-day” or was “over the top” are still employed and accepted. Those coming at racing from the outside expecting some kind of analytical insight, or data-sharing illumination, are going to be disappointed. There is much to be said for the ability to tune in to that tremendously game, genuine, hard-working animal that is at the centre of it all, communicating silently. That is the part that takes time and experience and there is no substitute for watching intently with the human eye.

Yet in amongst this world of quandaries and immeasurable fact and fiction that are inevitable when dealing with the horse is some very valid sports science. It is working away in the background like the engine tuners used by mechanics to supplement their longheld knowledge of the car. Be it via heart monitoring, blood testing, scoping, bone scanning, lighting systems and all other forms, it has and is playing its part in helping the people closest to the horse get it into sharper focus. The thoroughbred racehorse can share its mystery, even though there is not yet a sophisticated enough instrument to translate that into clear language. Metaphorically, thanks to sports science, it is talking more all the time.

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