Friday figures: Graded winner Truly Quality dazzles at Del Mar

Photo: Richard Steele / Eclipse Sportswire

Truly Quality led all performers with a 152 Horse Racing Nation speed figure in his repeat victory in the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar. The 5-year-old gelding by Quality Road, trained by Jonathan Thomas, settled off the pace and made a sustained run. He hit the front near the furlong mark and kicked on to win by 1 3/4 lengths as the 9-5 favorite. It was his first win in three starts this year and his sixth in 16 career races.

El Principito earned a 137 HRN speed figure at Tampa Bay Downs in a conditioned, top-shelf allowance-optional claiming race at six furlongs on the dirt. The 4-year-old Accelerate gelding settled well off the pace after breaking a little slowly but uncorked a rally and held to win by three quarters of a length at a 5-1 price. The Gerald Bennett trainee, second in the Smile Sprint at Gulfstream earlier this year, won for the third time in 11 starts in 2025 and the fifth in 27 lifetime outings.

S S Sinatra completed the top three with a 131 HRN speed figure in a classy conditioned allowance-optional claiming race at Laurel Park, covering six furlongs on the dirt. The 5-year-old Desert Party gelding, sent off the 7-5 favorite, stalked the early pace before taking the lead in upper stretch. He dug in deep to hold by a nose. The victory was his first since March of this year, and his fifth in 25 career outings.

Friday's top 10 speed figures

HRN Horse Sire Age Race Distance
152 Truly Quality Quality Road 5G DMR 7 1 1/2 turf
137 El Principito Accelerate 4G TAM 8 6f dirt
131 S S Sinatra Desert Party 5G LRL 8 6f dirt
127 Cattivo Ragazzo Great Notion 5G LRL 7 6f dirt
126 Dissectologist Reload 6G WO 6 6 1/2f syn
123 Skillian Great Notion 2G LRL 3 6f dirt
123 Five o' Somewhere Munnings 4G CD 5 6 1/2f dirt
122 Necessity Constitution 3F CD 3 1 mile dirt
121 Roswell Into Mischief 4F AQU 8 6 1/2f dirt
121 Beautiful Blome Blofeld 3F LRL 4 1 1/16 dirt

Fastest maiden winners

Skillian posted the day's highest maiden-winning HRN speed figure, earning a 123 in his victory Friday in a six-furlong dirt sprint at Laurel Park. Facing Maryland-bred or sired juveniles, the son of mid-Atlantic stalwart Great Notion made the lead and never relented, winning by 7 3/4 lengths as the 1-5 favorite. The Lacey Gaudet trainee graduated at second asking, just 12 days after his runner-up debut at the same level and distance. Skillian is out of the Not For Love mare Flit, a half-sister to stakes winners O Dionysus and Joy. Flit's top-earning foal to date is the Tapizar mare Betcha By Golly, a five-time winner and earner of $222,427.

Domino Vitali impressed with a 116 HRN speed figure in her debut Friday, which came in a 6 1/2-furlong dirt maiden special weight at Tampa Bay Downs. The Jorge Delgado trainee took early pace pressure before drawing away from the field, crossing the wire six lengths clear as the 4-5 favorite. The 3-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo is out of the Grade 3-placed Malibu Moon mare West Coast Chick, who won three times and earned $163,184 on the track. Domino Vitali is the second winner out of her dam, who also produced Motorcade, a gelding by Accelerate who won three times and earned $92,080.

Vital Mind earned a 112 HRN speed figure at Churchill Downs in his second career start. The 3-year-old colt by Into Mischief, trained by Steve Asmussen, was making his first start since a runner-up debut at Oaklawn in March. In the six-furlong maiden special weight, Vital Mind stalked the pace, bid into the turn, and ran on in the lane to win by 1 1/4 lengths as the 8-5 favorite. He is the only starter out of She's a Julie, an Elusive Quality mare who earned just under $1.2 million and won two Grade 1 races for Asmussen.

Friday's top maiden winners

HRN Horse Sire Age Race Distance Winning
Margin
123 Skillian Great Notion 2G LRL 3 6f dirt 7 3/4
116 Domino Vitali Uncle Mo 3F TAM 6 6 1/2f dirt 6
112 Vital Mind Into Mischief 3C CD 12 6f dirt 1 1/4
111 Pashmina Constitution 2F FG 7 1 1/16 dirt 10 3/4
107 Archimedes Caravaggio 2C FG 8 5 1/2f turf head
106 Palacios Enticed 2G LRL 9 6f dirt 2 1/2
102 Sendit Mo Yaupon 2G DMR 6 5 1/2f dirt 1 1/4
102 The Town Tempter Karakontie 2F FG 6 5 1/2f turf 3 1/4
101 American Popstar American Pharoah 3F GP 1 1 1/16 syn 1 1/2
101 Lady Rose Upstart 2F AQU 9 1 mile dirt 5 3/4

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.

Note: For the fastest maiden winners mentioned, all dam and sibling earnings are based on North American starts only.

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