Just so you know where all this came from, I once owned two thoroughbreds - a 5yo mare "Lucy" and a 10yo gelding "bobby" aka racing name Chrome Prince - hence my nickname (although I'm not a gelding
).
The younger mare took a lot longer to recover from a really hard run, than the gelding who was twice her age. He'd be prancing around with his tail up ready to go a few days later. She'd be in one corner of the paddock, head hung low - off her food. A week later she was like him.
The gelding was a sprinter and the more he raced, the fitter and harder he became. It was when he came back from a break, it took him one or two runs to hit peak.
The mare was a middle distance horse, and she raced better fresh, the less racing, the better she was - so to speak.
The point is, that these were two different types of horses, but the common link was that that she took longer to recover in every respect than her older companion.
So, I thought maybe it's just the distance thing. So I went about making mental notes of horses when they returned to the stables or paddock for other owners and trainers. This was a smallish complex, but a couple of very well known country trainers, I used to chat with.
My original idea, evolved into a confirmed opinion. It wasn't distance, it was the horse.
The only mares that picked up quickly and raced well after a short period, were indeed the above average types - almost champions (well in the country anway) They's string together four or five wins on the trot easily, then come to town and win.
Anyway the long and the short of it is, many years later, I remembered my findings almost two decades ago and decided to run it through a database to test.
I was blown away at how well it still holds up today.
So I didn't just retrofit or pluck a few numbers to get where I am today.