Is there any difference between male and female horses in the elite races? Take the Derby, for example, will it be a mix of males (stallions?) and females (mares?) with the winner coming from either sex about equally over the years? Or are male horses bigger, faster etc.
What about over the fences - any differences according to the horses sex?
Bandied about when Genuine Risk won the Derby:
Apparently, for 3 year olds, the colts GENERALLY outrun the fillies. Occasionally, a really outstanding filly comes along in a year when there aren’t any really outstanding colts, and you get a contender like Genuine Risk. The Derby field will be predominantly, or all, colts.
Interestingly, in events for older horses, the mares can hold their own against the stallions. But the Triple Crown events are for 3 year olds.
Thks. This question was in ma heid from listening to Goldikova win a big race in France today - she’s won the Breeders cup mile twice. I understand that is not the same race as the main Breeders Cup race? What would be the difference between the two races?
Colts are usually bigger and stronger than fillies. Remember, in the Derby, any fillies carry five pounds less than the colts, that’s a handicapper’s equivalent of three lengths distance at the Derby distance. In other words, if a filly carried the same weight as a colt, she would be three lengths further back than where she eventually finished.
There are certainly exceptions for outstanding fillies.
As for the Kentucky Derby, only three fillies (female horses 3 years of age) have ever won it. Regret - 1915; Genuine Risk - 1980; Winning Colors - 1988. Fillies are rarely even entered in the Kentucky Derby. Think about it. if you had a damn good filly, but maybe not the greatest in a generation, would you rather she win the Kentucky Oaks and take home $500,000, or come in 6th at the Kentucky Derby and get zip?
The Breeders Cup mile is a turf race (its raced on a grass track). The Breeders Cup Classic is 1 & 1/4 miles, on dirt. Turf racers don’t normally run on dirt and vice versa.
There’s also the Distaff (aka Ladies’ Classic), which is the Classic distance open only for fillies.
As several Dopers have mentioned, the Kentucky Derby and similar races are for young horses. Two to three years old is really the minimum age at which a horse is ready to start training. At that age, males tend to be larger, stronger and faster than females, and it absolutely gives them an advantage.
Other disciplines - cross country, hunter/jumper, dressage, endurance - usually feature older animals due to the time it takes to train a performance horse. The extra time and training tends to minimize, if not eliminate, the difference between mares and stallions.