Fastest horses: Keeneland, Woodbine winners lead pack
Nuanced posted the joint highest Horse Racing Nation speed figure of Thursday with a 125 at Keeneland in a $50,000 maiden claimer at 1 3/16 miles on the dirt. A 3-year-old Complexity gelding trained by Chad Brown, he set a pressured pace, opened up in the lane and won by 12 1/2 lengths under wraps. He paid his backers 5-1 odds in that second-out maiden win. Though five runners were claimed from the race, he was not, so he remains with Brown and owner Klaravich Stable.
Stirling Castle also earned a 125 HRN figure, doing so in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden optional claiming sprint on the Tapeta at Woodbine. The 3-year-old gelding by Souper Speedy bounced out to the lead and kept finding enough to maintain an advantage, crossing the wire a length in front at 8-1 odds. It was his first win in five career starts. He was in for the $23,500 optional claiming tag but no one dropped a slip, so he stays with trainer William Tharrenos and owner Scrappy Stables.
Bessie Abott completed the top three with a 123 HRN figure at Woodbine in an allowance optional claimer that was originally carded for turf, but run at seven furlongs on the Tapeta. The 3-year-old daughter of Kuroshio, backed as the 2-1 favorite, stalked the pace before taking over in the lane. The Mark Casse trainee ran on resolutely to win by 1 1/2 lengths. It was her first win in six starts this year and her second in seven lifetime outings.
Thursday's top 10 speed figures
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | Nuanced | Complexity | 3G | KEE 6 | 1 3/16 dirt |
| 125 | Stirling Castle | Souper Speedy | 3G | WO 5 | 6 1/2f syn |
| 123 | Bessie Abott | Kuroshio | 3F | WO 4 | 7f syn |
| 117 | Secured Lender | Omaha Beach | 4G | BAQ 1 | 6f dirt |
| 115 | Sam's Treasure | Munnings | 4F | KEE 8 | 6f dirt |
| 114 | Sweetalkingbourbon | Twirling Candy | 4G | KEE 4 | 1 3/16 dirt |
| 111 | Valiant | Into Mischief | 2C | IND 2 | 1 mile dirt |
| 110 | V Max | Unbridled Express | 4G | IND 7 | 1 3/16 turf |
| 109 | Boys Code | Boys At Tosconova | 5G | IND 6 | 1 1/4 dirt |
| 106 | It Takes Heart | Holy Boss | 5M | BAQ 3 | 1 mile dirt |
Fastest maiden winners
The 125 HRN speed figures that Nuanced and Stirling Castle earned, the highest at any level on the day, were both earned in maiden victories.
Nuanced is a 3-year-old gelding by Complexity. He is out of Haven, a winning Take Charge Indy mare who earned $23,666 and a half-sister to stakes winners Maoineach and Tiz Now Tiz Then. His only winning half-sibling of two to start is Take Charge Curly, a Shackleford gelding who has won four times and earned $83,832 so far.
Stirling Castle, a 3-year-old gelding by Souper Speedy, is out of the Old Forester mare Lynnessa. Lynnessa earned $350,411 in a 33: 5-3-10 career at Woodbine. She has produced three other winners, with the top earner so far being Speedy Lynn, a full sister to Stirling Castle who won three times and earned $120,711.
Valiant, a 2-year-old Into Mischief colt trained by Brad Cox, earned a 111 HRN figure when breaking his maiden Thursday in a dirt mile at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Sent off at 3-5 odds in his third career start, he sent to the front and led at every call, drawing off to win by 5 1/4 lengths. He is the first starter out of the unraced Medaglia d'Oro mare Validest, a half-sister to multiple graded-stakes winner Global View.
Thursday's top maiden winners
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | Nuanced | Complexity | 3G | KEE 6 | 1 3/16 dirt |
| 125 | Stirling Castle | Souper Speedy | 3G | WO 5 | 6 1/2f syn |
| 111 | Valiant | Into Mischief | 2C | IND 2 | 1 mile dirt |
| 106 | Helmet of Will | Beau Liam | 2G | BAQ 5 | 6f turf |
| 98 | Triumphant Spirit | War of Will | 3F | KEE 9 | 1 mile turf |
| 95 | Amberglen | Night of Thunder | 2F | KEE 5 | 1 mile turf |
| 90 | Atomic Age | Justify | 3C | BAQ 2 | 1 3/16 turf |
| 83 | Bling d'Money Home | Java's War | 4F | WO 3 | 1 3/16 syn |
| 73 | Neshika | Twirling Candy | 2F | BAQ 6 | 1 3/16 turf |
| 60 | Time for Music | Not This Time | 2C | KEE 2 | 7f 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.