About Speed Ratings

The idea behind speed ratings is simple.
How fast a horse runs is the single most important factor in finding winners.

The easiest way to measure one horse against another is by how fast it runs and a speed rating translates performance into an easy to use number.

Time and again, a horse with supposedly poor form figures is given no chance by most punters, yet the speed ratings will tell a very different story and this is where the big winners can be found.

If a horse finishes second it is presumed to be in good form but this is no good if it was a slowly run race, even if it is flashing home at the end.  Another horse could run down the field on the other hand, but still record a quick time in a fast race.

Those who ignore that horse due to it finishing 6th or 7th last time out will be scratching their heads when it comes in next time at a big price! Our speed ratings will highlight these horses for you time after time, with many winners in the past up to 50/1 and is just one of the simple ways you can identify value bets using the speed ratings. 

"Your figures provide much more indication on a horses raw ability in my opinion. I have used timeform, rpr, dataform, raceform all sorts and yours are the only ratings I take notice of now."

Tim B

You won’t win money betting on horses knowing the same obvious things other punters know. You win money by knowing important things other bettors don’t know and don't do.

Normal ratings are compiled using judgement, basic opinion and outdated and unreliable pounds per length as the variant. Speed ratings on the other hand are measured by the actual time the horse took to run the race.

Using time to determine the beaten horses is an absolute measure of a horse’s ability that can be accurately compared to all the other runners in the race.

What’s more, Inform Ratings are compiled manually by hand, using the old fashioned calculator, pen and paper method, as well as human experience and understanding, allowing for any discrepancies regarding goings, track conditions and race class etc. all ironed out at source and applied to the final ratings.

Most other speed ratings available are calculated using a computer programme, feeding in race times and ‘official goings’, which are often frighteningly wide of the mark, then spitting out any old number to satisfy the users who believe they are getting an accurate record of a horses performance.

These simply cannot be as accurate because it is the understanding of everything other than the clocked time that makes the rating so valuable.

Calculating the ratings manually allows us to take all of these changes into account and the more race times we include the more effective our own private standard times continue to be.

It’s a time consuming process, but incredibly worth the effort and all of our standard times are updated throughout the year to make the ratings as accurate as possible.

Speed Ratings allow you to compare horses in a race that have run on different goings, (firm, good to firm, soft, etc.) at different courses and over different distances and this allows for a quick and reliable comparison.

By taking into account the race time and accurate race conditions, that encompasses everything required about a run and calculating this one speed rating number, all horses in a race can be compared very simply and quickly.

"Must admit, I am becoming even more impressed with what I am seeing. Brilliant stats and you can spot the donkeys even if the form says 2,4,2 for example."

Tony B

An example

A horse that rates 80 over seven furlongs should theoretically run 80 going over a mile and a horse that rates 76 over five furlongs on good ground at Sandown should theoretically get a similar rating over five furlongs on soft ground at Epsom.

A speed rating of 77 from Windsor in a class 4 race, represents the same level of ability as a speed rating of 77 in a class 3 race from York or anywhere else. Therefore these numbers can be compared and a decision on the absolute ability of each horse, can be made.

You can now use identifiable and profitable patterns to find value bets every day because the ratings take into account each previous run with regards to trip and track etc.

Given the huge variety in British racecourses and goings throughout the year, most horses show preferences for some conditions and speed ratings are the best tool for uncovering these.

Over the years, every successful and professional punter I have come across at race meetings or those I know from the media, all use speed ratings as one of their betting tools and this should inspire you to either start compiling your own, or look into using the Inform Racing speed ratings already available here.

Bearing in mind 98% of punters lose over the long term, just breaking even can be called an achievement these days with the average punter losing hundreds, even thousands of pounds every year according to reports.

With the speed ratings, you can now be one of the few that actually makes money from their betting, just like many current subscribers to Inform Racing who have been members since we first went online, back in 2003.

The fact that a large number of users have continued to subscribe year after year, offers genuine proof of how useful the speed ratings really are and while nothing can be guaranteed, it must be said that an intelligent use of the ratings will certainly put the odds in your favour.

Are you ready for a fresh start and a new beginning to your betting using speed ratings?

"Much appreciate the video. Inform Racing is growing from strength to strength."

DD

Class Pars - where the magic happens!


Average Speed Ratings or ‘ Class Par’ Figures

Every race has a par figure or average winning speed rating which is the rating required to win a race of that type, class and age group and finding those not up to the par figure will help to narrow down the field and find those selections with the best chance of winning the race.

Determining if a horse has previously or recently raced to the par figure will immediately eliminate those that cannot win, whereas those that have can be placed on your shortlist.

All par ratings are shown on a link below the card and are also on the header of each race card too, where you will see something like:

Class Par: Par 77 H 84

This means that the average winning speed rating (Par 77), for this race type/age group/class is 77 and H 84 means the highest ever speed rating for this race type/age group/class is 84.

In most races, any horse with a Master rating of less than the par of 77 here, can confidently be ignored.

I say in most races because if a horse has a Master rating of less than 77 but is still one of the top 3 rated horses, highlighted on the cards in red, it will mean the horse still has a chance in what is more than likely a poor race overall.

A horse with a Master rating below the class par and not top 3 rated can confidently be ignored and will win very few races over the season, especially when at short prices. This is a very simple method for those who like to lay horses or follow the new trading trend of Lay2Back bets and will easily help find a number of betting opportunities.

One other note of caution here would be races for 2 year olds and early season races for 3 year olds only, where there is little previous form to go on where horses improve and strengthen with each new run, all through the year.

From a backing point of view, if you have a horse whose Master rating is higher than the H rating on the card, you will have an opportunity for a solid bet and a large percentage of winners will be found.

Many professional punters use speed figures to quickly identify the real contenders in a race and using par figures in this way will often eliminate false favourites and short priced runners from the reckoning that the general public will always over bet.

This will leave opportunities to back one or two horses in a race at good prices that have run to the par figure or better, that are being ignored by the vast majority who don't have the information that you do.

Hopefully you are starting to see how just looking at these simple rating figures can often tell you enough about a horses chance without the need to spend hours trawling through the form.

It has been said a number of times before that the Inform Racing cards are some of the simplest around because they highlight the contenders just by looking at the race card and the ratings.

"Thanking you - still the best racing website there is."

Peter D

Winning with speed ratings.

The good thing about speed ratings is that they are used less frequently by punters here in the UK. This means that they are not factored into bookmaker’s odds to the same extent as other ratings.

Therefore those who do use them correctly can gain a definite edge over other punters and value prices in many of the bets that they place.

Backing the top rated or top three rated horses is a good place to start and from these many good winners will be found.

The Inform Racing top rated horse wins nearly 25% of the time and the top three rated combined win close to 60% of all races so if you want a quick method of narrowing down the field then this is certainly as good a place to start as any.

The top rated horses are taken from the Master column and if you bear in mind that this is simply the best rating for each runner from the last 12 months, irrespective of the course, distance and going where the rating was achieved and we can still achieve these excellent strike rates, then I’m sure you can see how successful you can be if you wanted to take time to look a little deeper into the ratings.

As mentioned before, horses that ran down the field in fifth, sixth or worse but still scored a good speed rating. These horses will largely be ignored but are a real potent source of winning bets, especially if they are one of the top three rated horses last time out too.

In fact the last time out figure (Lto) or Last time out rating for the horse, is often considered to be the most relevant rating as it shows the current form of the horse, its well being and how fit it is, especially when the rating was from a recently run race.

Very soon you will be able to regularly narrow a race down to three or four horses and when you have the winner from these about fifty percent of the time, you will be well on your way to making consistent profits from your betting.

In fact I challenge you to do just this over the next month or two and see how many winners you can come up with from your shortlist. Are you up for the challenge?

If you are, it is an excellent way to practice discipline and learn more about the speed ratings at the same time and doing this will only benefit you and your betting bank in the long run.

We spoke April 13 and i joined. The Ratings are crazy, i found 25/1 winner today and 18/1 on Saturday. Keep up the good work. Worth getting up at 5AM pacific time!!

James M

There are no shortcuts to winning.

In a survey I ran a while ago, amongst many other questions, I asked long term subscribers their age group and the vast majority told me that they were over 50. 

The fact that all of these had subscribed to Inform Racing Racing for at least two years, told me that while we all hope to find our riches by following this tipster or that miracle betting system, it can take twenty or thirty years to realise that there is no pot of gold out there being given away and you do actually need to put a little effort into finding the horses to bet on.

Inform Racing speed ratings have been successfully online since 2003 and there is only one reason for that and it is because we provide the information that people trust and use daily to make money from their betting, in a simple to use and easy to understand format.

And don't forget, when you subscribe you get far more than just the speed ratings and race cards.

  • Unlimited access to the System Builder and Declarations Builderent
  • Unlimited access to the Betting Tissue Tool
  • Unique pop up form boxes for every horse so you can see the form you need at a glance
  • Full Class Pars, Advanced Search Feature, In Depth Form Tables, Daily Stats Tables and more...

Remember, you won’t win money betting on horses knowing the same obvious things that other punters know. You win money by knowing important things that other punters don’t know.