Tag: speed

How fast are racehorses?


A thoroughbred racehorse typically gallops at around 30 miles per hour, on average, but, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the fastest speed ever recorded was 43.97 miles per hour, by Winning Brew, a two-year-old filly, who covered two furlongs at Penn National Race Course, in Pennsylvania, USA in 20.57 seconds on May 14, 2008. Of course, the minimum distance over which thoroughbred horses race, in Britain, is five furlongs; the record over that distance belongs to Stone Of Folca, a four-year-old gelding, who achieved an average speed of 41.9 miles per hour when winning at Epsom Downs Racecourse, in Surrey, UK on June 2, 2012, in a time of 53.69 seconds.

How fast are horses?

On average, young, healthy, well-conditioned horses gallop at between 25 and 30 miles per hour. However, according to Guinness World Records, the fastest speed ever recorded by a racehorse was the 43.97 miles per hour achieved by the two-year-old throughbred filly, Winning Brew, at Penn National Racecourse in Grantville, Pennsylvania in May, 2008. Trained by Francis Vitale, covered two furlongs, or a quarter of a mile, in 20.57 seconds.

Of course, despite the American penchant for horse races well short of five furlongs – in some cases as short as a furlong, or even half a furlong – the minimum distance in many racing territories, including Britain, is five furlongs, or five eighths of a mile. Again, according to Guinness World Records, the fastest time recorded over five furlongs was the 53.69 achieved by the four-year-old Stone Of Folca at Epsom Racecourse in Surrey in June, 2012. Trained by John Best and ridden by Luke Morris, Stone Of Folca averaged 41.67 miles per hour en route to the fastest time recorded on a British racecourse since the advent of electronic timing.