At TrackMaster, each year we perform a comprehensive quality check of our speed and class ratings for harness racing. To ensure maximum efficacy of the ratings, TrackMaster goes back and recalculates and revises the ratings for the year.
Additionally, in our efforts to continually improve and refine our ratings, this year we've implemented some great new enhancements to our harness racing speed and class ratings to make them even more accurate than ever.
Trot vs. Pace
In the past, trotters and pacers were on slightly different scales of class and speed ratings. Initially, we had attempted to keep the ratings between gaits equal at a specific class level, for example $10,000 claiming. However, this resulted in the overall average trotters having ratings a bit higher than the pacers. This was especially true at the top levels where the best trotters around were much higher than their pacing peers.
After careful review, we have adjusted the trotter ratings down and more in line with the pacer ratings. Now the overall average ratings between gaits equal and the fastest ratings of the year have similar maximums. We have gone back several years in history and made a similar adjustment to these scales to better maintain consistency.
Ratings For All
Previously, when there was not enough information for us to determine a speed or class rating using our standard methods we were forced to record an N/A (not available). These cases, where not enough data existed to reliably compute a rating, primarily occurred at county fair tracks, races at non-standard distances and races with very few past performances.
With our latest revision, we have implemented a secondary process to assure that every race now gets a class rating and every horse that finishes with measured lengths back, a speed rating. This alternate method of class ratings is no longer based solely on the speed ratings of the horses in the race (as is our standard method), but uses other factors like age, earnings and other horse related statistics to determine the class. Similarly, the alternate speed rating method does not rely on the time of the race, but instead uses other factors including the history of the winner, class of the race and beaten lengths.
In the end, we believe these revisions and new methods of computing ratings for all races, more accurately, makes using our data to handicap and evaluate horses better.
The updated statistics will begin appearing in all of our files (including pdf and exe formats) that have race dates of March 31st, 2010 and forward.