By: Dr Rosie Alcorn BVSc PG Cert VPS Cert AVP MRCVS
Let’s step back to 2003 - a year that changed British Cycling forever.
In over 110 years, Great Britain had won just one Olympic gold medal in cycling and had never achieved success in the Tour de France. Their performance was so underwhelming that European bike manufacturers refused to sell their equipment to British teams, believing them too poor to represent their brand.
Then came Dave Brailsford, appointed as performance director in 2003. His philosophy, the aggregation of marginal gains, revolutionised British Cycling. Though it sounded complex, the idea was simple and powerful: if you improve everything you do by just one per cent, those small gains add up to create a major improvement overall.
Between 2007 and 2017, British cyclists went on to win 178 world championships, 66 Olympic or Paralympic gold medals, and five Tour de France titles - one of the most successful periods in cycling history.
So, how can we use this idea to improve the performance of our racehorses - particularly through nutrition?
We can make measurable improvements in equine performance through small, consistent nutritional changes. By refining the quality of forage, composition of feed, and digestibility, we can help our horses reach peak condition.
1. Forage First: The Foundation of Equine Nutrition
Despite the long tradition of grain-based diets, research now shows that forage should form the base of every horse’s diet, even for elite racehorses.
It’s vital to understand how good your forage really is, testing it for both nutritional value and hygiene provides the foundation for a balanced diet and better health outcomes.
2. Feed Smarter: Reducing Sugar and Molasses
We all want our horses to enjoy their feed without compromising their wellbeing. Traditional racehorse feeds are often high in molasses, which is essentially sugar. High sugar levels can cause insulin spikes, digestive disturbances, and dental issues.
Modern racing feeds, such as Keyflow’s low-molasses formulations, offer a healthier alternative - supporting energy, focus, and long-term wellbeing without the negative effects of excessive sugar.
3. Maximising Digestibility: Getting More from Every Mouthful
To ensure our horses make the most of what they eat, feed processing methods matter. Extruded feeds allow for better digestion and nutrient absorption, resulting in a higher feed conversion ratio. In simple terms, this means we get more out of what we put in, supporting performance while maintaining digestive health.
Keyflow offers a range of products designed to support racehorses' performance. Blacktype Power, Blacktype Sensitive and Blacktype Prime.
By applying the principle of marginal gains to equine nutrition - focusing on forage quality, feed composition, and digestibility - we can make small but meaningful improvements that collectively deliver major performance benefits.
Just as British Cycling’s success was built on countless one-percent improvements, so too can our racehorses thrive through the careful accumulation of small, smart nutritional decisions.
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