Horse Racing Handicapping Class and Speed ​​System

Trying to figure out a horse’s class when handicapping is not always easy. Some horse racing providers do a good job of scoring races and also determining the quality or class of a horse based on who it raced against, race time and pace, adjusted for variances.

While these figures are very useful, there are some people who prefer to evaluate brokers and create their own figures. One way to do this is to take the horses from the last three races on a fast track and add the speed figures. Then add up the bags in those races.

Finally, to determine the horse’s true class based on speed and competition quality, divide the speed total by the bag total. Let’s look at a hypothetical example.

Speedy the horse has recorded the following speed figures in his last three races on a fast track…

78

82

80

240

Therefore, Speedy’s total speed over three races is 240.

The bag in those races was…

$6,500

$5,800

$6,200

$18,500

So the total purse value for those races was $18,500. We then divide the $18,500 by 240 and the answer is 65.2.

Treating each of the runners in the race the same way will give you an idea of ​​the class based on the skill displayed at a certain level. However, there are some caveats that we should be aware of.

First of all, what was the distance of each race? Second, what was the pace setting and how did it affect the final time, the speed figure of the horse in question? Third, of course, what kind of condition and how far along was the horse in his racing season? If the horse was returning from a break, the first two or three runs may have been for conditioning only and may not reflect the true form of the runner.

As you can see, whether you use the business figures provided by the form writers or your own figures, the class will always be a puzzle. The fact that it is so difficult may account for the fact that some pundits have argued that there really is no such thing as class in horse racing. That said, the best way to determine class, whether using speed or some other indicator, is through experience and trial and error. The more races you have, the better you will be at determining that illusory quality known as class.