1-mile 2 or 1-mile 4, that is the question?

​My reaction to this year’s Derby was that the first five home were all good quality 1-mile 4-furlong horses. Of course, 1-mile 4-furlongs is no longer the sexy distance for high-flying international breeders. To the Americans 1-mile 2-furlongs is stretching things a bit tight and to win a top race over a mile is a much surer sign of speed and class. Of course, the colt that can prove itself the top miler and yet have the stamina to win over a trip 2-furlongs further is considered the paradigm when it comes to marketing a stallion to potential breeders. It is why the Prince of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot has become a more important race than the 2-furlongs further Hardwick Stakes and why last season’s Derby winner Masar runs in the former rather than the latter, even though he has no form over the shorter distance.
If I have my facts right, it seems the first five at Epsom are booked to lock horns again in the Irish Derby where it will be a pin in the paper job to pick which of the five will come out on top at the Curragh. Greater racing minds than I, Matt Chapman for instance, is of the opinion that Madhmoon and Sir Dragonet would be better campaigned over the shorter distance. Quite why he has formed this opinion is rather hard to fathom. Perhaps he overheard a conversation in a racecourse bar to that effect and thought it worth airing with the public.
The proverbial cigarette paper would have covered the five at Epsom, yet two of them were wilting to the effect that it is presumed a drop back in trip will bring about startling improvement. I don’t see how anyone could form such a conclusion. Sir Dragonet, even though he has run only three times to date, ran by far his best race at Epsom. His Chester run has very little merit apart from the obvious fact that after running very green he managed to scoot clear of his rivals. Madhmoon got closer to winning a classic at Epsom than he did in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket and though he might go on to win either an Irish or British Champion Stakes over the 1-mile 2, that will in no way make true the claim that he isn’t a true 1-mile 4 horse. I recall David Elsworth commenting after Barnbrook Again had finished second at Kempton behind his illustrious stable-mate Desert Orchid, when the gentlemen of the press were of the opinion the horse didn’t stay the 3-miles, ‘he stayed better than the horses he beat!’
I would not be a bit surprised at the Curragh if the first five at Epsom finish in the reverse order, though I remain committed to Japan proving by the end of the season that he is the best of this season’s crop of Coolmore 3-year-olds.
In days of yore, the twenties and thirties, it was not unusual for a horse to win over a mile at Royal Ascot and turn out next in the St.Leger at Doncaster and proving equally effective. In those days a horse might run in the Cambridgeshire and the Cesarewitch in the same season. Has the thoroughbred so altered that in our time a horse has an optimum distance and to race over any other distance would see it at a serious disadvantage? Or are races today run differently in some way?
I believe the determining factor is that flat racing has become far more of a business or investment opportunity rather than a pure sport. Defeat for a stallion prospect is as close to a financial disaster as the financial markets crashing and trainers must ensure the valuable charges in their care must at the end of the three or four-year-old careers be as stain-proof as is humanly possible and to this end are unwilling to take undue risk.
In my estimation, and to many others, Frankel was either the best flat horse of my lifetime or the second-best. The question though would be moot if they had thrown the dice a further time and kept him in training as a five-year-old as he would have proved twice as effective over 1-mile 4 as he was over the shorter distances that comprised his racing career. Perhaps if the ground had not gone soft the great horse would have run in the Arc or if Sir Henry was not so desperately ill, he might not have been retired at the end of his 4-year-old season. If, buts and maybes, I know.
And that in essence is the true difference between the sport of flat racing of yesteryear and today. In days past owners and trainers were of the mind to discover the limits of ability of their horses, whereas today it is all about commercial considerations and what is to come rather than the here and now.