Del Mar maiden winner dazzles with fastest figure of day
Simple Song topped Thursday's speed figure performances with a 143 Horse Racing Nation speed figure in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight on the Del Mar dirt. The 3-year-old gelding by Munnings, trained by Mark Glatt, set a pressured pace before clearing off to win by 2 1/4 lengths at 7-1 odds. That maiden victory came in just his second career start.
Geezer earned a 130 HRN speed figure Friday at Del Mar in a six-furlong dirt sprint for open claimers. The 5-year-old gelded son of Merit Man battled on the early pace, kicked clear in the lane, and held to win by 1 1/4 lengths as the narrow 9-5 second choice. The win was his first in nine outings this year, and his sixth in 25 career races. Trained by Hector Palma into that race, he was claimed for $10,000 to the barn of Genaro Vallejo.
Cattivo Ragazzo completed the top three with a 128 HRN speed figure at Laurel Park in a six-furlong dirt allowance for Maryland-bred or Maryland-sired horses. The 5-year-old Great Notion gelding, trained by Gary Capuano, was midfield but made an early move and ran on to win by 2 3/4 lengths at 7-2 odds. He won for the first time in seven starts this year, and has now won three of his 13 career races.
Friday's top 10 speed figures
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 143 | Simple Song | Munnings | 3G | DMR 4 | 6 1/2f dirt |
| 130 | Geezer | Merit Man | 5G | DMR 8 | 6f dirt |
| 128 | Cattivo Ragazzo | Great Notion | 5G | LRL 7 | 6f dirt |
| 126 | Wild Vine | Red Vine | 6G | LRL 6 | 1 mile dirt |
| 124 | Chrome Ghost | Shaman Ghost | 5G | GP 8 | 6f dirt |
| 122 | Modo | Liam's Map | 3F | CD 2 | 6 1/2f dirt |
| 121 | Lute Warm | Midnight Lute | 5M | LRL 8 | 1 mile turf |
| 121 | War Bomber | War Front | 7G | WO 8 | 7f syn |
| 119 | Speedy Bear | Souper Speedy | 4G | WO 7 | 7f syn |
| 119 | Heart Headed | Oscar Performance | 4C | CD 9 | 5 1/2f turf |
Fastest maiden winners
Simple Song, who led all Friday winners with a 143 HRN speed figure at Del Mar, achieved that in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight at Del Mar, winning in his second career start. He is a 3-year-old Munnings gelding out of Serene Melody, a stakes-winning Street Cry daughter of hall of famer Serena's Song. Simple Song is one of two winners from three starters out of his dam. The other, the War Front horse War at Sea, earned $334,280 on track and won at the Grade 3 level.
Merica's Back earned a 113 HRN speed figure when he broke his maiden Friday in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight dirt sprint for New York-breds. The Mike Maker trainee, sent off the 3-5 favorite, overcame an early bump to make the early lead and hold by a neck in the end. The 3-year-old Practical Joke gelding graduated in his seventh career start. He is out of the Awesome Again mare Golden Mystery, a Grade 3 winner who earned $540,223 at the races. Merica's Back is the second winner from five starters out of his dam. The other winner is Apalachee Bay, a Malibu Moon horse who won twice at the stakes level and earned $121,956.
Biker Baley earned a 111 HRN speed figure at Laurel Park in his debut, which he won by a dominant 15 1/4 lengths. Sent off the 8-5 favorite in the six-furlong maiden-claiming dirt sprint, he took some brief early pace pressure before rolling well clear of the rest of his foes. The Hugh McMahon trainee was in for a $20,000 tag, but not claimed from the race. Biker Baley is a 2-year-old Irish War Cry gelding, the second starter and first winner out of the winning Verrazano mare Fast Fionnuala, a half-sister to stakes winner and Ontario-based sire Big Screen.
Friday's top maiden winners
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 143 | Simple Song | Munnings | 3G | DMR 4 | 6 1/2f dirt |
| 113 | Merica's Back | Practical Joke | 3G | AQU 3 | 6 1/2f dirt |
| 111 | Biker Baley | Irish War Cry | 2G | LRL 10 | 6f dirt |
| 106 | Consequent | Into Mischief | 2F | DMR 6 | 1 mile dirt |
| 105 | Bohemian | Essential Quality | 2F | CD 4 | 1 mile turf |
| 105 | He's a Beast | The Big Beast | 3G | GP 6 | 1 mile dirt |
| 100 | Eva Ready | More Than Ready | 2C | AQU 4 | 6f turf |
| 98 | My Boy Stan | Stanford | 2G | GP 3 | 6f dirt |
| 98 | Souper Caliber | Gun Runner | 2C | WO 1 | 1 1/16 syn |
| 95 | Sure to Appeal | Tapiture | 2C | CD 8 | 6f dirt |
About HRN speed figures
HRN speed figures are AI-generated using HRN's proprietary machine-learning algorithms. Although they involve less human input than other speed figures, we see that as a plus as human adjustments often knock down surprisingly good performances to match expectations. HRN speed figures were launched in December 2024, and our expectation is also that the AI-generated speed figures will continuously get better over time.
The HRN speed figure scale goes from 1 to 160. Part of the reason for this higher scale is this helps us avoid assigning a speed figure of zero. For some products, in weaker races, half the field or more may get a speed figure of zero, which leads to inaccuracy and defeats the purpose of speed figures.
Because the HRN speed figures are based on machine learning, as we improve our models we can compute the numbers historically.
Using the top last-race speed figure as a benchmark, here are stats from 2021 to 2024 for HRN and other speed-figure providers:
Top HRN figure 26.2% winners
Top Beyer figure 28.1% winners
Top TimeformUS figure 28.4% winners
Although all HRN speed figures are published on individual horse profile pages on a weekly basis, the daily reports are focused on the top and medium-tier tracks, which represent the majority of top speed figures.