Beyer equivalent of Racing Post numbers?
 

Hello all...

I know this board has a LOT of people who know how to handicap well.

Simple question: What do you guys do with the Racing Post numbers when they are given for foreign entrants in lieu of Beyer Figures?

Is there any sort of numerical equation that can be used, and if so, what's the error plus/minus?

Appreciate any help I can get on this...

Joe

Joeydb,

Love the avatar. Sorry I can't answer the question but Go EAGLES! :D

Speed figures for turf contests are dubious to begin with given the way they are usually run. The Racing Post ratings cannot be translated to Beyer's by any straight line formula as they are more of a subjective handicap rating. You can look to see what ratings the top G1 horses have and compare down the class level's from there, but it's a ballpark estimation at best.

normally there is a 10-15% difference in them.
a 130 racing post would be about a 110-117 Beyer, etc.

Alan Shuback's head just exploded.

Like he is so successful...

For years he told everybody you couldn't convert Timeforms to Beyers, and yet many people did just that and cashed over and over.

Now, lately, for the last year or so, European horses as a group have sucked bad here. No conversion would help. They are being overbet and rarely winning, a sure combination to land one betting them in the poor house.

I'm far from a Shuback lover. . . I think he's kind of an idiot. But he does have a point that timeform/racing posts and beyers aren't equivalent.

Does this somehow imply you can't use them in conjunction with each other? That is all people are doing when converting them to the same scale.

Turf Beyers are most times nothing more than handicap ratings anyway. Anybody that has made turf figures knows this to be true.

I use the very primative RF - 13 = Beyer. Just makes it easier to look at a race at a glance. Hasn't done me too wrong so far.

i go -15

Thanks guys. Both the percentage scaling and constant offset have at least given me a place to start. If anyone has seen a detailed analysis or conversion chart anywhere, please let me know.

This will at least allow me to have SOME comparison between foreign shippers and domestic talent.

Shuback did have a write up on them when the Form changed over from timeforms explaining the equivalency of the numbers to certain class levels. I give them a quick glance but to really investigate a foreign shipper try to look for replays of his previous races and if he's from GB use the attheraces site where they give you loads of information on each horse and their individual races.