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

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by ninetoone

Is there a way we can use this to upgrade or downgrade the derby prep races this year based on this information & the run up at the different prep tracks?

Sure you could, but it would be a lot of work. Think of it this way, the timer starts when the first horse hits the beam. The race is 9f. The winner is already 5 lengths behind at that time. So, he basically ran 9f and 5 lengths in the final time, not 9f. Or, you could deduct the time it took him to get to the wire from his time.

However, not sure that is really a good answer either. What if the horse is just notoriously slow? If the run up today is 20 feet, he won't be five lengths behind. If it is 120, he might be more. The whole things is just screwy. Just time the races so all horses are timed for the same exact distance. It shouldn't be this hard.