It's about time to consider reforming the way our races are timed

[Calzone Lord]

In essence, the published fractional times and final time for every single race run in North America is a phony time.

The published distance of every single race, at every single track, is also wrong.

If the Belmont Stakes is really a "12 furlong" race ... than Real Quiet is really a triple crown winner, because here is what the finish looked like after 12 furlongs of actual running:



As most here obviously know, all races in North America are run at a distance slightly further than the published distance because of "run-up"

The purpose of "run-up" is to give the field a running start by the time they hit the actual start of the race. The amount of "run-up" tracks use vary wildly from distance to distance.

The whole point of doing this bologna was to make the impression that our horses were much faster than the horses who compete in the rest of the world.

This method of timing we use also helps make the early fractions of our races appear supersonic to the rest of the world. It's all smoke and mirrors.

In Dubai, the races are timed properly and if the race is run at the distance of 8 furlongs ... it's actually run at exactly that distance. Take a look at the fractions and final times from a few 2013 Dubai World Cup races:

2013 Godolphin Mile: 25.22, 47.97, 1:13.13, 1:39.97

* And the horse who set that blistering opening quarter of 25.22 finished 16th and last. But more importantly ... note that the 2nd quarter was 22.75 ... had this race been timed in America, that's a 45 and change pace here

2013 Dubai World Cup: 26.59, 50.02, 1:13.63, 1:38.66, 2:03.21

* Of course, Royal Delta was rocking and rolling on a loose lead through that 26.59 opening quarter. She finished 10th. The favorite Hunter's Light stalked that pace from 2nd position, he faded to finish 7th. Note the 23.43 second quarter ... that's a 46 and change pace the way we time races here.

People would always make a great big deal about the slow opening fractions in 8 furlong races at Gulfstream because of the minimal run-up.

However, there is a difference between even just 10ft of run-up and the timer and gate going off simultaneously. All of those 25 flat, and 48 4/5th fractions you saw at Gulfstream going a mile in 2012 would have looked worse if they had included a true flat-footed start.

Chris Johnson (CJ2K) has run the fastest 40-yard dash time in the history of the NFL Scouting Combine with a time of 4.24 seconds : His opening 10-yard split was 1.40 seconds.

If you timed Chris Johnson's 40 yard dash the way a North American horse race is timed, he'd run it in 3.80 seconds.

If you timed 350lbs lineman Dontari Poe that way, he'd be as fast as Chris Johnson is in a traditional 40.

The early paces in European turf races aren't as glacially slow as people think. A big part of it is smoke and mirrors and the softer ground they generally race on.

The marketing people and bluebloods in the stallion business might not like it ... but it's time to at least consider putting an end to the unnecessary smoke and mirrors and start timing races properly.