Speed Figures

Maybe ask Burkey1885 on here. He has built up a reputation of brilliance and knowledge on the subject.

Would be worth the data on the a/w tracks, where the sectional times would be invaluable, Hugh has obviously access to these thru ATR, not sure why this data cannot be made widely available.

If you want to follow speed figures there are plenty available for free.

The value in creating your own is not that you can do it better than the professionals (you almost certainly can't) but that the process involves 2 or 3 hours of looking at races and form.

Maybe ask Burkey1885 on here. He has built up a reputation of brilliance and knowledge on the subject.


Nice sarcasm there Richie, I applaud you!!!

At one point I had access to 3 different sets of speed figures plus my own and like for like ratings were often different between all 4 even though they were judging the same races.
Meaning each set of ratings often had different horses as the top rated even accounting for your own filtering relative to the conditions of the race.
There's a hell of alot of guessing going on needless to say the game is far more than just SF and backing the top rated blind doesn't work no matter which ones you use or else everyone would do it.
When they are useful is when you can judge like for like performances with limited variables on the same day,for example today Visinari on debut can be compared to the older horse race on the card over the same CD won by Flavius Titus with a little extra work you can get a decent gauge of that horses ability.
The only problem with this from a betting point of view is everyone ends up wanting to bet on the same horses and you can only obtain value if you can bet with the bookmakers early which nobody who's any good that isn't protected can do (no matter how much they pretend they can).

Back in the day ( late 90s and early noughties ), the go to book for compiling speed figures for UK racing was Mordin On Time. This was inspired by the American author Andy Beyer's Beyer On Speed ; both would help you to get a foothold on compiling your own figures.

However, I don't think you need to, really. They are very time consuming to compile and I didn't find they gave me nearly enough of an edge to justify all the time and effort involved. It's worth noting that Beyer tried to use his speed rating method in the UK - it having worked very well in the USA - but it failed miserably ; his conclusion being that speed figures on turf cannot be as useful as those on 'dirt' when the early pace is often pedestrian and and where things only really hot up in the final three furlongs.

Whenever I find myself being drawn back to speed figures these days, it's usually because my selections have been inexcusably sh*tty and I'm desperate to end a long losing run, but really, when all is said and done, I'd say you don't really need them.

And as far as Hugh Taylor is concerned, I think his normal modus operandi is to find horses who have been unsuited by the way a race has panned out, i.e. finishing late held up off a slow pace, caught three-wide throughout, and so on. Yes, he does note fast times, but they're not usually a clincher for him in putting up a horse.