Time Comparisons
 

Hi there. I'm interested in the importance everyone here places on time comparisons between different tracks when doing your form preparation.

I'm primarily a harness punter and know full-well that a mile rate of 2 minutes around a tight track like Warragul can be looked upon favourably against a mile rate of 1:56 around Melton. I suspect irregular harness punters would most likely be unaware of these discrepencies, just like I am when doing form for the gallops or greyhounds and trying to compare runners with recent starts from different race tracks.

I know there are time ratings on the gallops, but does anyone actually know how these are compiled and do they even take into account the vagaries of different tracks? It seems that most form guides simply provide the gross race time, and perhaps some sectional times as well. But how relevant are these raw figures without first taking into account the track it took place on? Afterall, most punters I've met would never factor in a race's overall time without also taking the track rating into account.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

yeh but its very hard there might be a few websites that have this info

R&S do this analysis for you. They have a Adj Time in the formguide to take into account track differences.

Not sure how useful it is but its there.

anyone who does time analysis (i don't) knows to take thins into account but many people don't use time analysis for many reasons. Time analysis really works well when the competitors go really quickly from the outset. IOf you have a slow pace then the times may not be a true reflection of a horses abilties.

Hi pcsport,

The guy from horsetorque sells a book of par times for $50. I haven't purchased it but it might be worth a look.

Agree with Uselessbettor that slow paces in races can be deceptive. Look for fast times, then see if the horse sat on or near the pace.

I do use times at tracks where most of the runners have raced at the same track over the same distance.

The Schmile

Thanks for the feedback. That's a good point UselessBettor and TheSchmile about fast times being a more accurate indicator of a runner's performance. But then you would have to know what constitutes a fast (and slow) time at a particular track - not too difficult if you concentrate on a few tracks and get a 'feel' for it, but difficult for the average punter trying to do form with runners coming together from many different tracks.

Do you think an online database that allows users to filter results based on times would therefore be a useful tool? Eg. For this particular discussion, let's say you wanted to get the form for each runner's past 5 runs, where the overall time was in the top 30% for that particular track. Rather than using a formguide with an adjusted time rating, this could give the user much more control.

If you can build such a database, the best thing is to assess results for a period and see if an edge can be gained.

I find the hard part is comparing times with different track conditions in play.

For instance, Warwick Farm has been particularly firm the last 2 weeks and track records have been broken as a result. I wouldn't be gaging much out of these times for the future.

Using times can be useful as a final filter, say if you narrow the field down to three competitors and use times from there.

The Schmile