Run-ups baked into figure-making

Q. In some races, the run-up distances can be rather large – especially at Gulfstream. When making your figures, do you add the run-up distance to the distance of the race?

–Ray Howard, London, Ontario, Canada

A. In dirt races, the effect of a long run-up is factored into the Beyer Speed Figures. Some tracks employ a long run-up so that races don’t start too close to a turn. This is the case for six-furlong races at Churchill Downs, and so the starting gate is positioned about 180 feet behind the pole where the timing of the race begins. (At other distances, the run-up is 34 feet.) The Churchill six-furlong races usually produce fast fractional times, and fast final times as well. We have a mountain of data showing that the six-furlong races are five Beyer points faster, in relation to 6 1/2 and seven furlongs, than they would be on a track with a normal configuration. These five points are built into the calculation of our speed figures.

I wish that I could offer such a clear, confident explanation of run-ups in turf races. The main difficulty in making figures on turf is the effect of pace on final times. When horses crawl the first half-mile in 50 seconds in a one-mile race over a firm course, it’s usually impossible to compare the final time to a race with a sensible pace

– even if both are run at the same distance with the same run-up. We have to use our judgment in making figures under such circumstances, and adding the factor of a long run-up makes judgment calls more difficult.

As you observed, the conditions of turf races at Gulfstream can be daunting. Earlier this winter, for a one-mile turf race, the temporary rails were positioned 120 feet into the course, and to accommodate the changed circumference the run-up to the start was 282 feet. There is no historical data on which to base speed figures for such a setup. Moreover, at many tracks, turf races with long run-ups and wide rail settings produce final times that I suspect are inaccurate. I wish U.S. tracks would employ the same run-up distance used in much of the world: zero.