3 ms·

Genetic diversity is a very interesting topic that’s well worth exploring, but it seems to me that Occam’s razor requires us to consider the possibility they ju

Genetic diversity is a very interesting topic that’s well worth exploring, but it seems to me that Occam’s razor requires us to consider the possibility they just had a really good, well timed dosage of performance enhancing drugs for Secretariat back in the day.

vova_hn2 2mo ago
> After he died, Secretariat’s heart was reportedly measured at almost 10 kilograms – twice as much as normal. This appears to have been a physiological fluke, however, as it isn’t a trait reliably passed down to offspring. In humans, enlargement of internal organs (including heart) is know to be a side effect of using growth hormone as a PED. Wiki says [0] that "Extracted growth hormone was used since the late 1950s", so in 1973 it was already a well known technology. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_hormone_therapy#Extraction_for_treatment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_hormone_therapy#Extract...
kibwen 2mo ago
> Occam’s razor requires us to consider the possibility they just had a really good, well timed dosage of performance enhancing drugs for Secretariat back in the day. No, Occam's Razor suggests the simplest possible explanation. To suggest that they figured out how to dope horses in 1973 and then promptly forgot how for the next fifty years is a complicated explanation. The simplest explanation, the Occam's Razor explanation, would just be that it was a fluke of nature.
- vova_hn2 2mo ago
  > and then promptly forgot Maybe anti-doping rules enforcement became stricter?
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
- bsder 2mo ago
  > The simplest explanation, the Occam's Razor explanation, would just be that it was a fluke of nature. Horse doping is old. Schwarzenegger was doped up and winning in 1968+ so the science was there. The idea that someone wouldn't dope up a horse for a marquis event like this is absurd. And once Secretariat became that famous, nobody across the industry was going to kill the golden goose by pointing out doping. However, the window was narrow. New tests came online in the mid 1980s to detect horse doping. The fact that nobody has been able to get even close to Secretariat's times given significant advances in nutrition and training is extremely suspicious.

vova_hn2 2mo ago

> After he died, Secretariat’s heart was reportedly measured at almost 10 kilograms – twice as much as normal. This appears to have been a physiological fluke, however, as it isn’t a trait reliably passed down to offspring. In humans, enlargement of internal organs (including heart) is know to be a side effect of using growth hormone as a PED. Wiki says [0] that "Extracted growth hormone was used since the late 1950s", so in 1973 it was already a well known technology. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_hormone_therapy#Extraction_for_treatment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_hormone_therapy#Extract...

kibwen 2mo ago

> Occam’s razor requires us to consider the possibility they just had a really good, well timed dosage of performance enhancing drugs for Secretariat back in the day. No, Occam's Razor suggests the simplest possible explanation. To suggest that they figured out how to dope horses in 1973 and then promptly forgot how for the next fifty years is a complicated explanation. The simplest explanation, the Occam's Razor explanation, would just be that it was a fluke of nature.

vova_hn2 2mo ago
> and then promptly forgot Maybe anti-doping rules enforcement became stricter?
deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
bsder 2mo ago
> The simplest explanation, the Occam's Razor explanation, would just be that it was a fluke of nature. Horse doping is old. Schwarzenegger was doped up and winning in 1968+ so the science was there. The idea that someone wouldn't dope up a horse for a marquis event like this is absurd. And once Secretariat became that famous, nobody across the industry was going to kill the golden goose by pointing out doping. However, the window was narrow. New tests came online in the mid 1980s to detect horse doping. The fact that nobody has been able to get even close to Secretariat's times given significant advances in nutrition and training is extremely suspicious.