Win More Races
V200 and Class
V200 is often described by top trainers as ‘cruising speed’. The faster your horse can run utilizing mainly aerobic metabolism – the further he gets down the track before anaerobic systems take over and fatigue is imminent. I happen to believe that racing ‘class’ can be partially quantified when observing V200/cruising speed as the below table indicates:
V200 of below 20mph – you are not yet ready to compete without significant risk of injury
V200 of 22-24mph – not yet ready to hit the board, but can improve off of a race or two
V200 of 25-27mph – $25k claimer at some of the lower level tracks, but not KEE or CD
V200 of 27-30mph – can win some decent races, allowance level up to non graded stake
V200 of 30-32mph – nice horse here, possible black type if placed correctly
V200 of 35mph+ – graded stakes superstar
So, anything we can do to improve V200 in your horse will move him closer to earning some paychecks. This data is remarkably similar around the world, drop me an email if you would like to see studies correlating V200 and performance from Japan, Malaysia, and Australia.
These ‘edges’ range from free up to tens of thousands of dollars, here are a few examples:
Build the bone density of a racing 4 year old in your 2 year olds in training-
At the New Bolton Center and Fair Hill Training Farm up in Maryland, Dr. Nunamaker and Dr. Fisher researched on how to avoid bucked shins and stumbled upon a conditioning program that also was found to build dense racing bone in 2 year olds, details here:
https://thoroedge.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/the-ideal-2-year-old-training-program/
Niagara Equissage saddle and hand unit
https://thoroedge.wordpress.com/equissage/
More…
Hyperbaric oxygen chambers after breezes, cold water Equine Spa treatments in the morning before exercise, splenic contractions during the post parade, galloping uphill to improve hindquarter musculature, FLAIR nasal strips on those whose nostrils become swollen at speed, post exercise nutrition to enhance recovery, etc.
I have many more ‘edges’ that when combined can buy you a few extra lengths come raceday.
ThoroEdge Equine Performance 
Love your writings…excellent in all ways…! Gobbling up books and info into overload!
Ha! Now we need to find investors, the perennial problem. Thanks for all you do.
Thanks very much for taking the time to read this stuff! I have plenty of investors believe it or not, seems many want to be involved in a different operation where raceday drugs are not present in the USA, at least to get an inside view of how it would function.
Problem is finding horses that pass my physiologic testing – needing to gallop at a 2min lick while working at 85% heart rate…
Yes I would love to see studies correlating V200 to performance.
Question ; As V200 is apprpximately 90+% of Vo2 Max Why is this Parameter used instead of a V at say 85% Vo2 Max (185BPM) The Anaerobic Threshold in most animals?
Here are a few links to check out Barry:
http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/20053178998.html;jsessionid=E7242F7D353DF2D0AFA7E2E14B8F7820
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17402405
As to why use 200bpm instead of 185bpm, I can’t really answer that because I have not paid attention to animals other than thoroughbreds. I have found that 200bpm in a horse with a max of 230bpm is where the blood lactate averages around 4mmol/liter – and that training at this pace seems to increase stamina at race speeds. I do find hr and speed to be linear through 185bpm on up to 200bpm. Surely, as you point out, there is some anaerobic metabolism going on at 200bpm. I believe training at 185bpm would be more aerobically beneficial, but the stamina derived may not be ‘thoroughbred stamina’ meaning, they may be able to run all day, albeit too slowly to win races that last less than 120 seconds. V200 numbers go back over 20 years in many Australian and Japanese research works.
Thanks Bill. No worries at V200 it may show Aerobic Capacity plus Lactic Acid Buffering Abilities s well.
Bill could you send me some of the studies about V200. Thanks
David Schneidt
By the way I posted a comment, to get your new book and didn’t get it .
Please let me know.
The book has been delayed a bit David, but hopefully will be out to you by the end of February. Here are links to the abstracts for a couple of V200 studies:
http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/20053178998.html;jsessionid=E7242F7D353DF2D0AFA7E2E14B8F7820
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17402405
Also, here is what I have personally found to be the relationship between V200 and dirt performance in the US:
V200 is often described by top trainers as ‘cruising speed’. The faster your horse can run utilizing mainly aerobic metabolism – the further he gets down the track before anaerobic systems take over and fatigue is imminent. I happen to believe that racing ‘class’ can be partially quantified when observing V200/cruising speed as the below table indicates:
V200 of below 20mph – you are not yet ready to compete without significant risk of injury
V200 of 22-24mph – not yet ready to hit the board, but can improve off of a race or two
V200 of 25-27mph – $25k claimer at some of the lower level tracks, but not KEE or CD
V200 of 27-30mph – can win some decent races, allowance level up to non graded stake
V200 of 30-32mph – nice horse here, possible black type if placed correctly
V200 of 35mph+ – graded stakes superstar
Of course V200 mainly represents the aerobic component, anaerobic performance is also key to winning races from 4-10F. I gauge that by HR recovery after breezes. In general:
-Maiden winners can breeze 3F in :36 with a 2min HR recovery below 120bpm, and below 80bpm at 5min.
-Claimers can breeze 4F in :50 with the same level of recovery.
-Allowance level can do the same after 5F in 1:01.
-Stakes level athletes: 6F in 1:12, even further/faster for graded superstars, I once saw a mile in 1:42!-
BIll do you have any studies from Australia ???
Many great studies come from Down Under. Google search for terms like ‘thoroughbred V200 VHRmax, VLA4’, etc., and you should find a few. The best guy I know of in AU is Dr. David Evans, and the top of the line HR/GPS is made in Perth at http://www.etrakka.com.au.