Most bettors approach horseracing a little different and to be honest, it took me awhile to completely buy into the Beyer Speed Figures.
Growing up on old-school concepts, it was an evolutional process that allowed me to embrace the Beyers and they have helped tremendously through the years.
The Beyer Speed Figures, invented by Andrew Beyer, is a number, which reflects the time of the race and the inherent speed of the track over which it was run, which permits comparisons of efforts at different distances.
In this system, 2 and a half points are roughly equal to one length in sprints and 2 points to one length in routes.
The Beyer Speed Figures started being published in the Daily Racing Form in 1992. Even though those figures are common knowledge players that have learned to properly interpret Beyer Speed Figures, still hold a comfortable edge over their rival bettors who are not as well versed.
As logic dictates, bottom level $2,500 claimers at the cheaper tracks will average a Beyer around 57 while the top runners in the country could earn figures at 120 or higher.
The most successful racing handicappers try to determine which horse can run the fastest and the Beyer Speed Figures can go a long way in helping with that equation.
Take for instance, racing on the West Coast, to racing on the East Coast or Midwest.
The surface at say Del Mar could be 2 full seconds faster than the track at say Arlington in Chicago.
If a runner goes 6 furlongs at Del Mar in 1:11 flat that would translate to running 1:13 flat at Arlington. So, on paper, a horse that could run 1:12 at Arlington could be analyzed as a faster runner than the 1:11 performer at Del Mar.
Every single racing day, a horse that runs is assigned a Beyer for all of his races. The great champion Cigar earned a career best 121 Beyer, while the low-level runners of this world struggled to earn a figure half that number.
Betting the highest Beyer figure in the race is not always the key to success. Because of form fluctuations performances of all horses can vary. These are not machines we are talking about because there is blood running through their veins.
That is why one cannot just use the Beyer Speed Figure blindly and as a cure all to racing. Those that do that, trying to take short cuts to success, will find themselves not only doubting the figures but their value.
One of the reasons one can’t buy into the Beyer Speed Figures at all costs is because the figure will raise or lower depending on what kind of trip a horse had. A runner that got an easy lonely lead will run fast most of the time, but a runner that is adversely affected by a track bias or going six wide will not have a true evaluation of that performance.
One thing the Beyer the man noticed early in his adapting of his figures is that a runner that runs three ascending numbers often regresses and runs poorly in that fourth start.
Possibly the best way to utilize the Beyer Speed Figures is like a guide. Consider them like a program one would get at a Broadway play. The story line is there for all to see, there is enough information about the script and about the past performances, but one still has to experience the play.
Try to use the Beyer Speed Figure like one would treat a best friend, trust them but also see the good and sometimes the not so good about that relationship.
The bottom line is that Beyer Speed Figures are a valuable tool. The key to unleashing their power is by finding circumstances where they offer the most value. This means that handicappers have to identify a horse that has had a legitimate excuse for running an inferior figure in its last or next to last recent effort. That is the start of the process that should reap rewards.
Often horses are evaluated by how they perform at distances of a mile of more. With that in mind let’s look at the runners that earned the top Beyer Speed Figures this year using this criteria.
First, we all know about Arrogate. He is arguably the best horse in the world and he puts up the digits. In the Pegasus World Cup in January he produced a 119 Beyer.
Send It In may not be a glossy as Arrogate but he is a serious horse and he has stepped out of his New York-bred comfort level to excel. He opened the year winning a pair of state-bred stakes but then had a coming out party in the Excelsior Stakes on April 8. The gelded son of Big Brown got an ideal three-hole trip and posted a 119 Beyer. He has trained forwardly since and should have a very productive Saratoga season.
The only other runner to come close to this pair as far as Beyer Speed Figures are concerned is Tu Brutus. That Gary Contessa student was second in the Excelsior Stakes to Send It In and earned a 118 Beyer. He proved it was no fluke when he recorded a 108 Beyer Speed Figure in the $98,000 Flat Out Stakes on May 7.
Shaman Ghost is next on the list with a 112 Beyer Speed Figure earned when chasing Arrogate. Since that race, Shaman Ghost won the Santa Anita Handicap with a 108 Beyer and then repeated in the Pimlico Special on May 19 with a 106 Beyer.
There are six other horses that have not been mentioned that have earned Beyer Speed Figures of at least 107 this year. They are Collected, Gun Runner, Cupid, Danzing Candy, Paradise Woods and Midnight Storm.
The latter is one of the most interesting. Midnight Storm is trained by Phil D’Amato and he has handled the runner expertly. He has a penchant for finding the finish line and he can perform on grass or dirt. He lost to Cupid last time in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita but has trained great since including a clever three-furlong blowout on June 27.
