Big problem I have is how the distance covered is measured. That has to be accurate or this is a mess. Does one go out there with a unicycle measuring device and follow the path of the horses?

This one reason I have never trusted speed measured this way. Another thing is the wide trip v. the rail. Depends a whole lot of the curvature of the turn. Some horses run well with that right side taking over and some horses run better in a stretch where one side does not have to dominate the other. Also horses that are lugging out or in may cover a lot of ground in a good time but they also might be dead tired compared to a horse who is full of run in a straight line path, running evenly and efficiently... in the figures this would work out to be slow because it was straight(again assuming distance is measured accurately)

Also horses that have changed speeds a number of times might have a low average time, but actually may have run a much tougher race because of having to change speeds (a bit hesitant to move thru a hole that closed, etc...)

Figures and numbers can be helpful (more so in betting, not as much in assessing a particular run) I will stick with my eyeballs and some basic figures in assessing a race. Nonetheless, it gives one something to ponder.

Ok I see Trackus... how is measuring distance accurately done by trackus?