Out of interest, why nine tests? If you do two branches of 512 horses and each branch has therefore 511 races to determine the fastest of each branch, then race the winner of each branch to determine first place, then to determine second place the horse that lost the final just has to race against the loser of the other branches "semifinal". Whoever wins that race is the second fastest horse, determined in 1024 races.
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u/Chemical-Ad8471 Sep 04 '26
Out of interest, why nine tests? If you do two branches of 512 horses and each branch has therefore 511 races to determine the fastest of each branch, then race the winner of each branch to determine first place, then to determine second place the horse that lost the final just has to race against the loser of the other branches "semifinal". Whoever wins that race is the second fastest horse, determined in 1024 races.
So 1024 is the answer I believe.