Race Distance Equalization

[ryefield]

I'm making my own pace figures but am somewhat stumped as to how to equalize track distances. I won't take a sprint line and use it for a route race but will use different sprint distances in a sprint and different route distances in a route. i.e. 5.5f pp's going into a 6f race.

[JackS]

Personally I do adjust many sprint times to route times but am somewhat reluctant to adjust route to sprint. Any par time chart should be enough to get you started.

[raybo]

Trying to equalize pace times or pace figures by distance is a daunting task, to say the least. If you come up with "the answer" there are many here who would be eager to know the formula, for sure. Although I haven't done much where raw fractional times are concerned, I have attempted to further equalize the Bris pace figures according to distance. I failed miserably I'm sorry to say. Bris does a much better job at providing pace figures that can be used for comparison purposes at different distances and at different tracks than I could ever do. What I do concerning different distances seems to work pretty well as a whole. If a horse is shortening up, I will look at the 2 furlong and 4 furlong pace figures or if he is going longer I will look at the LP (late pace) figure. In the first scenario a horse needs to show a marked improvement in early pace at the longer distance before I will use that race as a grading race. And in the second scenario a horse must show a marked improvement in late pace in the shorter distance before I will use that race as the grading race. This not only gives an indication of ability at the new distance, but also tends to point out improving condition in relation to the new distance. Sometimes, if there is a noticeable improvement lending itself to improved performance at the new distance and the horse has more than 1 race at the new distance somewhere in the recent past, I will just use the horses best race at the new distance as the grading race.