Friday's fastest: See top 10 winners, top 10 maiden-breakers

Photo: Casey Phillips / Eclipse Sportswire

Mining District led all horses Friday with a 128 Horse Racing Nation speed figure in an open first-level allowance-optional claiming sprint going 6 1/2 furlongs on the Los Alamitos dirt. The 4-year-old Accelerate gelding, trained by Doug O'Neill, attended the pace and battled on in the lane to win by a length at 5-1 odds. It was his second victory in 11 starts this year and his third in 16 lifetime outings.

Innately Good earned a 122 HRN speed figure in an open second-level allowance-optional claiming sprint Friday at Tampa Bay Downs. The Nik Goodwin trainee settled at the rear of the 10-horse field in the 1 1/16-mile turf race, but rallied strongly in the lane and got up by half a length to spring the 26-1 upset. The 3-year-old Good Samaritan colt won for the second time this year and the third time in 16 career races.

Handsintheair earned a 120 HRN speed figure in a one-mile maiden special weight on the dirt at Laurel Park. The 3-year-old daughter of Gun Runner, trained by Brittany Russell, disputed the early pace before drawing off to win by 11 3/4 lengths at 1-2 odds. It was her first victory in six starts.

Also earning a 120 HRN speed figure, the joint third best of Friday, was Switzler Jammin. The 3-year-old Echo Town colt from the Martin Drexler barn jumped to the early lead and kept going, leading at every call in the six-furlong claiming sprint at Woodbine. He ran to his 9-5 favoritism, crossing the wire 6 3/4 lengths clear. It was his second win in seven career starts and also his second win in a row.

Friday's top 10 speed figures

HRN Horse Sire Age Race Distance
128 Mining District Accelerate 4G LRC 7 6 1/2f dirt
122 Innately Good Good Samaritan 3C TAM 9 1 1/16 turf
120 Handsintheair Gun Runner 3F LRL 2 1 mile dirt
120 Switzler Jammin Echo Town 3G WO 3 6f syn
119 Trusty Rusty Tapiture 5G LRC 4 1 mile dirt
118 Minister Super Ninety Nine 3G LRL 3 7f dirt
118 Heat Merchant Kobe's Back 6G WO 4 6 1/2f syn
118 G T Five Hundred Astern 5G TP 7 6 1/2f syn
118 Troops Bahamian Squall 3G TAM 3 6f dirt
117 Big Hat Willie First Samurai 5G AQU 2 6f dirt

Fastest maiden winners

Handsintheair posted the day's highest maiden winner figure with a 120 HRN speed figure at Laurel Park, also the joint third highest of all tracked runners. The 3-year-old daughter of Gun Runner dominated a dirt mile at Laurel, winning by 11 3/4 lengths. It was her sixth career start, but her first try on the dirt. She is out of the First Dude mare Starr of Quality, who earned $307,529 in a career that included a stakes win at a mile on the Santa Anita dirt. She has also produced Fulmineo, a Bolt d'Oro colt who is a two-time stakes winner and Grade 2-placed at two turns on the lawn.

Freddie B impressed with a 116 HRN speed figure at Gulfstream Park, which he earned debuting in a maiden special weight dirt mile. The 2-year-old son of Kantharos, trained by Kenny McPeek, was the 19-1 longest shot in the five-horse field, and the only horse in the race who had not started before. Freddie B raced at the rear of the compact field early but battled down the lane to win by half a length. Freddie B is out of the Candy Ride mare Pacific Calm, an unraced half-sister to Grade 2-winning millionaire turf sprinter Bay Storm. She has also produced Senescal, a 3-year-old son of Frosted who won the Clásico Presidente de la República, a Panamá Group 1 that has international black type.

Twohonestmischief earned a 109 HRN speed figure at Aqueduct on Friday, breaking his maiden in a maiden special weight dirt mile for New York-breds. A 3-year-old Honest Mischief gelding trained by Chris Englehart, Twohonestmischief overcame some early trip trouble, made his way into range down the backstretch, battled down the lane and got up by a head. Sent off the 7-2 third choice of eight, he earned his diploma in his 15th career start. Twohonestmischief is the first starter out of the Adios Charlie mare Rapido Gatta, who was winless in 14 starts but hit the board eight times and earned $100,118.

Friday's top maiden winners

HRN Horse Sire Age Race Distance Winning
Margin
120 Handsintheair Gun Runner 3F LRL 2 1 mile dirt 11 3/4
116 Freddie B Kantharos 2C GP 6 1 mile dirt 1/2
109 Twohonestmischief Honest Mischief 3G AQU 8 1 mile dirt nose
105 Fourth and One Maxfield 2G AQU 3 1 mile dirt 7 1/4
105 Il Vagabundo Mitole 2C GP 2 6f dirt 1 1/2
104 Hixon Hoppertunity 2G LRL 5 1 mile dirt 3
99 Cruise Home Catalina Cruiser 2G LRC 1 1 mile dirt 2 1/4
98 Ginger's Holiday Ami's Holiday 4G WO 2 6f syn 7 1/2
97 Khetam Essential Quality 2G TP 5 1 mile syn 2
95 Zucchero Mendelssohn 2C GP 1 7 1/2f turf 1

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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