Speed Ratings Discussion

[BillyHills]

I know a few members used to dabble in Speed Ratings and as some will know i have compiled my own handicap ratings in the past for Novice Hurdler's. I thought it would be a good topic to discuss especially now we have a few new members who may want to contribute. I am aware it's not everyones cup of tea and compiling ratings can be very time consuming but those that do should be encouraged and have a somewhere to discuss it. ______________________________ I have never bothered with Speed Ratings due to two main factors, one is that i'm more of a National Hunt fan and the majority of speed rating experts seem to think its better to concentrate on the flat. Secondly the variations in distances, tracks and ground all seemed too great to comprehend and believe the information would be worth following at the end of it. In short, just too many variables to trust. I have read a bit on the subject and i do like listening to the likes of James Willoughby who is very passionate about speed and i agree with a lot of what he says and love him or hate him he knows his stuff. The reason for the thread is because i am thinking of compiling speed ratings for the jumps this season for the first time and wondered if anyone else does them for NH Racing and how they go about it and what have been the advantages and disadvantages with it all. I don't expect people to give away any 'secrets' (i know most systemites and ratings people guard their methods with their life) but it would be nice to know the following for any type of Speed Ratings. 1) What outside sites do you use. 2) How do you keep your database. 3) How long do you spend on compiling ratings. 4) How long does it take to work out a race. 5) Are Racing Post standard times a must (and reliable). 6) How do you arrive at 'par' ratings for each class. 7) Going Corrections? All thoughts, comments welcome, novice or experienced:ok

[Trotter]

Re: Speed Ratings Discussion I'm still doing speed ratings for the AW meetings though I haven't really concentrated on the AW for a couple of years now. I figure I'll go back to it sometime and I'll already have all the ratings up to date. 1) What outside sites do you use. Just the racing Post 2) How do you keep your database. On the RP 'My Ratings' service. I insert the winner's rating then use the 'Calculate' button and let the RP work out the beaten horse's ratings which I then 'Save' 3) How long do you spend on compiling ratings. An AW meeting takes me about 10 minutes to work out the ratings, the allowances, the final figures and store them on the RP 4) How long does it take to work out a race. This is a 'piece of string' question......:lol Depends on the number of runners......if you have the ratings stored then obviously it takes no time to look at the figures, the time is in assessing and interpreting what they mean in the context of all the other factors that you take into account when studying a race. A few years ago when I was much keener than I am now I used to spend approx. 15 minutes per horse........:eek 5) Are Racing Post standard times a must (and reliable). I use them for convenience. I have noticed inconsistencies .......for example I think a few years ago the 7F at Kempton was run faster per furlong than the 6F which seemed unlikely (not sure now of the precise details) ......but once I'd noticed these things I just kept them in mind without feeling the need to store amended figures. The RP do reassess all the standard times at the end of the season, so maybe these things get ironed out over time. 6) How do you arrive at 'par' ratings for each class and 7) Going Corrections? I do a combined allowance which takes into account class, going, wind etc. Basically I work out the raw speed figures of the winners which I then compare to their official rating. This might give me something like..... Horse A rated 64 ran a SF of 52" = slow 12 Horse B rated 87 ran a SF of 67 = slow 20 Horse C rated 70 ran a SF of 54 = slow 16 I do that for every race at the meeting then take the average of the fastest 3 as the combined class/going allowance. If the above were the fastest 3 then the average would be 12 + 20 + 16 = 48 divide by 3 = slow 16. I would then add 16 to all the raw figures Horse A = 68 Horse B = 83 Horse C = 70 Horse D might be a 2yo on debut with no rating who ran a figure of 20.......he now gets 36 Under my system the allowance is 'how much did this going slow down (or speed up) horses of this class'........so it incorporates going and class