Biomechanics and Zenyatta
Moderators: Roguelet, hpkingjr, WaveMaster, Lucy
-
xfactor fan
- Breeder's Cup Winner
- Posts: 2212
- Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 8:46 pm
Biomechanics and Zenyatta
Anyone what to comment on what makes Zenyatta a racing machine? What physical qualites does she have from a biomechanical standpoint that gives her such an advantage over other racehorses?
-
NORTHSTAR1
- Yearling
- Posts: 54
- Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:38 am
-
Shammy Davis
- Chef de Race: Classic
- Posts: 4451
- Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2004 8:23 am
-
Matchemforever
- Maiden Special Weight
- Posts: 169
- Joined: Wed May 14, 2008 12:07 pm
A question-
I thought I read somewhere that length of stride shortens as the horse accelerates more. If Zenyatta is accelerating when she unleashes her run for the wire, then is that stride shortening?
Conversely, is it possible that she actually lengthens her stride as she gets going? Reason I ask is, I can usually keep up walking with the 6'+ rest of the family, if I just lengthen my stride. Don't walk "faster", just increase the ground covered in one step.
Regardless, there have been other horses big like Zenyatta and size does not make them champions. Her size helps, but as an announcer said in a BC telecast, (which one I forget) you have to manage those big horses very carefully and I think this is the reason Zenyatta is not run more and that they are careful the kinds of surfaces she runs on. Same show said she was 17-1/2 hands tall.
Man O' War, a horse not as tall as Zenyatta but fair size, with a huge stride, was nearly ruined when the owner insisted he run, over the trainer's objections, on the Harve de Grace track, which was not in good shape. Speed + size + length of stride and track conditions should be paid attention to.
I thought I read somewhere that length of stride shortens as the horse accelerates more. If Zenyatta is accelerating when she unleashes her run for the wire, then is that stride shortening?
Conversely, is it possible that she actually lengthens her stride as she gets going? Reason I ask is, I can usually keep up walking with the 6'+ rest of the family, if I just lengthen my stride. Don't walk "faster", just increase the ground covered in one step.
Regardless, there have been other horses big like Zenyatta and size does not make them champions. Her size helps, but as an announcer said in a BC telecast, (which one I forget) you have to manage those big horses very carefully and I think this is the reason Zenyatta is not run more and that they are careful the kinds of surfaces she runs on. Same show said she was 17-1/2 hands tall.
Man O' War, a horse not as tall as Zenyatta but fair size, with a huge stride, was nearly ruined when the owner insisted he run, over the trainer's objections, on the Harve de Grace track, which was not in good shape. Speed + size + length of stride and track conditions should be paid attention to.
I think part of her success is that she is also able to extend her muscles to their fullest extent. Her 'strut' or 'dance' shows her doing that, and her jockey, Mike Smith says in a video on the NY times website http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/04/08/multimedia/1247467565220/zenyatta-struts-her-stuff.html that she warms herself up by 'dancing' so he doesn't have to.
I think that her ability to extend her stride makes it very efficient, and that she's able to get the maximum amount of forward propulsion from each individual leg, without any overlap (which wastes energy). That was one of the reasons Secretariat was so phenomenal.
I think that her ability to extend her stride makes it very efficient, and that she's able to get the maximum amount of forward propulsion from each individual leg, without any overlap (which wastes energy). That was one of the reasons Secretariat was so phenomenal.
-
Twingirl
- Maiden Special Weight
- Posts: 134
- Joined: Fri May 30, 2008 12:01 am
- Location: Ouachita Mountains, AR
Apparently, there has been some measuring going on. Compare to secretariat and man o' war.
There are other articles, I just need to find them. Here is one below. Also, I know somebody who counted strides and steps. I'll have to find it. It was quite mind-boggling. I'll post that when I find it, too.
"According to Equix, which analyzed the biometrics of racing thoroughbreds, the average race horse has a stride length of 23.5 feet. Secretariat’s was measured at 25.2 feet, which helped contribute to his greatness.
I got a request from a Community member to do a similar stride-length study on Zenyatta as I did with Rachel. What I discovered in the process was nothing short of astonishing.
Mindful that Zenyatta’s most recent victory was the Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park – a race she won last year under a similar 129 pound impost – it seemed a likely candidate for the study.
According to plans I found on the internet, the stretch at Hollywood Park, like all Left Coast tracks, measures a paltry 991 feet -- 25 percent shorter than Churchill Downs; 33 percent shorter than Hawthorne; and a staggering 36 percent shorter than Fair Grounds -- which helps explain why speed is so dominant in California racing, and why so few closers are able to win without perfect rides and exceptional ability.
In the Vanity Handicap in both 2009 and 2010, Zenyatta required the identical 39 strides to complete the 991 feet, an average stride length that factors-out at a mind-numbing 25.41 feet per stride -- longer even than the great Secretariat. St. Trinians, by contrast, required 42 strides to traverse that same distance, for an average stride length perfectly in keeping with the norm at 23.59 feet.
Next, I went back and watched the Breeders Cup Classic of 2009 at Santa Anita, whose stretch is even shorter than Hollywood Park’s at only 900 feet. It took Zenyatta only 35.5 strides to complete the distance, an amazingly consistent 25.35 feet per stride. Even after a mile-and-a-quarter, she galloped-out like she wanted to go around again, an indication that perhaps the Left Coast’s ridiculously short stretches are the reason so many people believe we haven’t yet seen Zenyatta fully extended, nor will we until she runs the 1,234.5 feet of CD’s stretch in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
THE OLD HOZER"
http://community.tvg.com/t5/TVG-Viewer-Mailbox/ZENYATTA-TALE-OF-THE-TAPE/m-p/216883
There are other articles, I just need to find them. Here is one below. Also, I know somebody who counted strides and steps. I'll have to find it. It was quite mind-boggling. I'll post that when I find it, too.
"According to Equix, which analyzed the biometrics of racing thoroughbreds, the average race horse has a stride length of 23.5 feet. Secretariat’s was measured at 25.2 feet, which helped contribute to his greatness.
I got a request from a Community member to do a similar stride-length study on Zenyatta as I did with Rachel. What I discovered in the process was nothing short of astonishing.
Mindful that Zenyatta’s most recent victory was the Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park – a race she won last year under a similar 129 pound impost – it seemed a likely candidate for the study.
According to plans I found on the internet, the stretch at Hollywood Park, like all Left Coast tracks, measures a paltry 991 feet -- 25 percent shorter than Churchill Downs; 33 percent shorter than Hawthorne; and a staggering 36 percent shorter than Fair Grounds -- which helps explain why speed is so dominant in California racing, and why so few closers are able to win without perfect rides and exceptional ability.
In the Vanity Handicap in both 2009 and 2010, Zenyatta required the identical 39 strides to complete the 991 feet, an average stride length that factors-out at a mind-numbing 25.41 feet per stride -- longer even than the great Secretariat. St. Trinians, by contrast, required 42 strides to traverse that same distance, for an average stride length perfectly in keeping with the norm at 23.59 feet.
Next, I went back and watched the Breeders Cup Classic of 2009 at Santa Anita, whose stretch is even shorter than Hollywood Park’s at only 900 feet. It took Zenyatta only 35.5 strides to complete the distance, an amazingly consistent 25.35 feet per stride. Even after a mile-and-a-quarter, she galloped-out like she wanted to go around again, an indication that perhaps the Left Coast’s ridiculously short stretches are the reason so many people believe we haven’t yet seen Zenyatta fully extended, nor will we until she runs the 1,234.5 feet of CD’s stretch in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
THE OLD HOZER"
http://community.tvg.com/t5/TVG-Viewer-Mailbox/ZENYATTA-TALE-OF-THE-TAPE/m-p/216883
i think it shows her aero and cardio fitness as well. When horses (or people) cant' breathe or get oxygen, the energy to extend muscle is compromised. What would be interesting is to see if st trinians stride length was longer on the back stretch, but compromised in the home stretch.
jm
jm
Run the race - the one that's really worth winning.
I think it shows a vastly superior respiratory and cardo-vascular system. Her large size is an immense disadvantage for going a route, and the further the route the larger the disadvantage. This has to be compensated for either through highly efficient bio-mechanics, energy metabolism, or oxygen transport or a combination thereof. That she seems to be better the further she goes suggests that she has an unusually efficient ability to utilize oxygen and energy.