Hi all!
I am a time rating devotee, but have been thinking about the importance of the times ran on different tracks, and why bother with it?
Example: 1218 meters average time minus actual time on the Kyneton track is - 0.16 sec/meter meaning that the actual time was faster than the avg.time.
Now, in the upcoming race at Bendigo this same time on the same distance would be actually -0.25 sec/meter faster than the track avg. at Bendigo, meaning that Bendigo is slower than Kyneton.
Does it mean anything? and if it does, how do we use it? or have I been deluding myself all this time?
Cheers

Why not have a chat with Gary Robinson of horseracingaustralia.

I am sure he would be of some assistance.

Cheers.
darky.

Track times on Aust. tracks and even the same tracks from one meeting to the next can differ quite a lot depending on the field size, barrier position, race pace, surface conditions, wind strength and direction and temp. and humidity. All of these things [and probably a few others] combined in various degrees will affect times for any horse.

What I find works best for me anyway, is to average a runners times over certain distances where possible. Beyond 1400m times become pretty meaningless due to race 'pace' having more influence than any other consideration.

A lot of punters use a horse's 400/600m race sectional [where available] as a good guide.

Another suggestion is to compare other times ran on the same day at the same track, over similar distances. If a class 3 horse has run just as quick as open class or very close, it usually stacks up as a good horse to follow. Just one example.

__________________
All generalizations are dangerous.

Hi all!
Thank's for the help!
Darky, I do have one of Gary's books, liked one idea he talked about, ie. importance of weight on different distances. (not sure it was his idea though)
Could not find any reference to him on the web.
Crash, your idea sounds OK to me, I will work on it, I have the data to test it.
YoungBuck, your idea also makes sense but it would take a long time to run it through my database and create a new field marking the horses run, but once done, it will be easy to update as new data comes in.
Thank's again.
Try to avoid betting on losers!