Horse Racing Positions Affect the Outcome of a Race

By Bill Peterson

image: depositphotos

Speed points are often used to determine where a horse will run or try to position itself during the early stages of a race. Speed points were the brainchild of a handicapper named Quirin who developed a simple but very useful method for determining where horses run during the early part of a race. If you've been handicapping for a while you probably know about speed points and also that early speed is critical, even in long races.

The old saying, "pace makes the race," is often true. However, pace and speed and position are not all the same. Let's say you have a horse with the top speed point rating of 8. That means the horse is a front runner and will try very hard to got to the front and stay ahead of all the other horses. The horse doesn't want to see another horse ahead of it.

The only problem is that while this one wants to lead, its best time in a quarter mile, the first fraction of the race, is only 24 seconds. There are other horses in the race with early speed who can run the quarter in 23. Now what happens to that front running horse? It will often wear itself out trying to get to the top and then fade in the later stages of the race unless the jockey can slow it down, getting it to "settle," as it is called. Front runners with speed points of 8 rarely want to settle for less than the front, however.