Andrew Beyer and his speed figures are as much to blame as all the drugs and any owner/breeder for the state of today's thoroughbred. Since the mid 70's when they where first introduced they have influenced every aspect of the industry to gear more and more towards speed. It used to be that you wanted a horse that could beat all opponents, now it is about beating the clock.
Every track in the country will do their best to have the fastest possible surface when they run Grade1 stakes, regardless of safety for horses and Jockey's, and only so the final Beyer speed-figures for the race will be as high as possible.

Breeders are using horses that ran hugh Beyer's on the track, even if the broke down in doing so, because that is what will sell at the 2 year old "breeze-up" sales. Once again we see the influence of Beyers.

This is My peronal opinion and should not be taken for facts.

Here is a quote from one of Mr. Beyer's articles...

Quote
"Big Brown has not yet faced rivals who can challenge him. The supporting cast in the 133rd Preakness was a pitiful group, with only two graded stakes winners among them. The competition was so weak that bettors made Gayego the second choice in the wagering, even though he had lost the Derby by 36 3/4 lengths. The Derby field had been an unusually weak one as well. And in the race that marked Big Brown's emergence as a leading 3-year-old, the Florida Derby, his competition was negligible.

In his five-race career, Big Brown still has not beaten a horse of real quality, nor has he been fast enough to prove he is a horse for the ages. His Kentucky Derby time was on par with recent winners such as Street Sense; his Preakness time of 1 minute 54.8 seconds on a lightning-fast Pimlico track was undistinguished, thanks to Desormeaux's restraint"

End quote
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702736.html

Once again I think Mr. Beyer shows his total disregard for the horses by diminishing the accomplishment because the final time in his opinion was too slow.
There is only one thing that matters in horse racing and that is being first over the finish line.
No one gets paid more because the horse wins going faster than it has to in order to beat the opponents.
In my opinon Mr. Beyer and his ever lasting chase for the hugh speed-figures should be tossed out of racing toghether with "legal" drugs.

If you look at international racing you will find that your lucky if there is even a time published for past races, it is about how a horse won or lost and who he did beat, horses run against horses not the stopwatch.