I came upon the idea for Stars Of The Clock a couple of years ago. I noticed that the Star Performer highlighted in the trade paper was not always the fastest performer on the day at the track. I found that the fastest speed figure would sometimes go to a lowly rated horse trained by one of the smaller stables and ridden by a jockey outside the top five. Being a bit partial to the underdog I decided to get the name’s of these unsung heroes out there on Twitter and generate some interest in the sport. To put the speed figure into context I pinned the following Speed Figure Par Chart for horses to my profile:
| Class1: Group 1 | 117 | (3.40) |
| Class 1: Group 2 | 115 | (3.00) |
| Class 1: Group 3 | 113 | (2.60) |
| Class 1: Listed | 111 | (2.20) |
| Class 2 | 109 | (1.80) |
| Class 3 | 107 | (1.40) |
| Class 4 | 105 | (1.00) |
| Class 5 | 103 | (0.60) |
| Class 6 | 101 | (0.20) |
| Standard | 100 | (0) |
| Class 7 | 99 | (-0.20) |
This is a standard speed figure chart from The BHA Official Form Book, published by Raceform, representing pars established by speed figure expert Dave Bellingham. Many enthusiasts were using paper Form Books (shown in the photo) at the time which took a lot of work to get through before Computer Raceform for your PC came online. The product eventually became Raceform Interactive and it can now be purchased online at The Racing Post Shop. It is an excellent database which allows the user to update the form quickly online every day, store and search your own speed figures and ratings and research trends and statistics. As a Raceform subscriber for the past 30 years I would highly recommend Raceform Interactive.
The table above shows the difference between each Class for UK racing using 1 point per length and using 100 as the standard time as it is compiled for each track. The chart also uses (0.20) seconds to represent a length for convenience despite a more accurate measurement being closer to (0.17) seconds per length. In theory a Class 6 race that equals the par time for a Class 6 race would be 1 point (or 1 length or 0.20 seconds) faster than the track standard time, Class 5 would be 3 points (3 lengths or 0.60 seconds) faster and so on up to Group 1 level which would be 17 points (or 17 lengths or 3.40 seconds) faster (17 x 0.20).
Allowances are also made for younger horses and for fillies:
| MONTH | 2YO | 3YO |
| Jan/Feb | -12 | -6 |
| Mar/Apr | -11 | -5 |
| May/Jun | -10 | -4 |
| Jul/Aug | -9 | -3 |
| Sep/Oct | -8 | -2 |
| Nov/Dec | -7 | -1 |
| Races contested by fillies/mares only -3 | ||
| Allowances are cumulative. |
Using a combination of the above pars and allowances, the par figure for the Epsom Oaks would be (110). The Group One par is 117, then deduct 4 because the race is confined to three year olds and run in June, then subtract another 3 because the race is confined to fillies. In the next instalment I will demonstrate a method to compile standard times for a racetrack. Till then Stay Lucky!