![]() ![]() ![]() Most of these providers use the same basic methodology as Beyer but calculate the data differently and offer different bells and whistles, so speed figures will be different on a company-to-company basis – and some are also more accurate than others.Īs an introduction to speed figures, here’s a quick look at some of them:ĭaily Racing Form: The Daily Racing Form is the exclusive outlet for the Beyer Speed Figures, listing them in its past performances that also include running lines, a pace figure, some pertinent stats, info on turf and mud breeding, workouts, and a couple of sentences about the horses chances. They can also save time by purchasing speed figures from a variety of outlets. It takes time, but handicappers can craft their own speed figures. Horses who finished behind the winner had their figures calculated by how many lengths behind they finished, taking two points off for each length behind in a route race and three points per length in a sprint. That means if the average for the day was minus-2 then the aforementioned MSW winner who ran an 86 would get credit for an 88 Beyer Speed Figure. Let’s say the par for a maiden special weight sprint was an 84 and the winner ran an 86, that would mean the track was fast by two points.īeyer applied that process to all of a card’s dirt races and turf races (keeping the dirt and turf races separate) and then he would average the pluses and minuses to determine whether the track was slow or fast. ![]() Then Beyer established a table of pars, which was the expected speed figure for a winner at each level in the condition book. Though he was not the founding father of speed figures, Washington Post turf writer and handicapper Andy Beyer made them popular through his 1975 book “Picking Winners.” In it, Beyer explained his take on speed figures and how he developed numbers that could reflect horses’ performances at different distances.įor example, times of 1:12 at six furlongs, 1:25 at seven furlongs and 1:38 at a mile all equaled a 94 to Beyer, who used a numeric system in which the higher the speed figure, the better the performance.īeyond that, a horse with a Beyer Speed Figure of 104 ran faster than a horse with a 94, even if those figures were earned at different distances. Speed figures took that process to a new and infinitely more helpful level. They were averages based on how many lengths above or below the track record the races on that day were. What is commonplace now was in its infancy back then when speed variants ruled the land. In the course of the last 45 years, the biggest advancement in handicapping has probably been the emergence of speed figures. ![]()
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