Speed figures: 3 Woodbine winners lead the pack
Runnin' Rocket led all performers Sunday with a 135 Horse Racing Nation speed figure in a seven-furlong allowance-optional claiming sprint on the Tapeta at Woodbine. The 4-year-old War Front gelding, trained by Martin Drexler, was the 4-5 favorite. He tracked a few lengths off the pace and fought on tenaciously in the lane to get up by half a length. The win was his second of the year and his fourth in 17 lifetime starts.
Paramount Prince earned a 134 HRN speed figure at Woodbine in a 1 1/16-mile synthetic allowance optional claimer. The 5-year-old gelding by Society's Chairman, sent off at 4-1 odds, led at every call and won by four lengths under a hand ride. It was his first victory in four starts this year. The Mark Casse trainee has seven wins in 18 starts, including scores in the 2023 King's Plate and a pair of graded stakes at Woodbine in 2024.
Humber River completed the top three with a 133 HRN speed figure at Woodbine in a seven-furlong optional claimer under the synthetic. The 3-year-old Frac Daddy gelding, trained by Robert Tiller, tracked the pace and blew clear in the final furlong to win by 3 1/4 lengths at 9-2 odds. The win was his second of the year and his third in eight career starts.
Sunday's top 10 speed figures
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 135 | Runnin' Rocket | War Front | 4G | WO 7 | 7f syn |
| 134 | Paramount Prince | Society's Chairman | 5G | WO 10 | 1 1/16 syn |
| 133 | Humber River | Frac Daddy | 3G | WO 11 | 7f syn |
| 133 | Petingas Twin | Take Charge Indy | 4G | LRL 10 | 6f dirt |
| 132 | The Great Oz | Liam's Map | 7G | WO 6 | 7f syn |
| 128 | Venencia | Recoletos | 5M | KEE 8 | 1 1/2 turf |
| 126 | Excite | Speightstown | 3C | KEE 7 | 1 1/8 dirt |
| 124 | Eff Thirty Five | Yoshida | 4G | LRL 5 | 1 mile turf |
| 124 | Critical Threat | Mshawish | 7G | KEE 1 | 1 1/16 dirt |
| 122 | Louise Procter | Siyouni | 4F | BAQ 3 | 1 3/16 turf |
Fastest maiden winners
Keithing Thunder posted the day's highest figure among maiden winners, earning a 122 HRN speed figure in a California-bred dirt mile at Santa Anita. The 3-year-old Mesa Thunder colt, trained by Brendan Galvin, took the early lead, turned back a bid and ran on to win by 3 1/2 lengths as the 7-5 favorite. He is out of the unraced Sought After mare Solar Eventby Mesa Thunder won a one-mile dirt maiden special weight at 7-5 odds in his seventh career start. He is the first winner out of the Sought After mar Solar Event. Her only other foal to race so far, the Coach Bob mare Camellia City, missed the board in three career starts.
Beneficial impressed with a 117 HRN figure in a 5 1/2-furlong dirt maiden claimer at Santa Anita. The 4-year-old gelding by Malibu Moon, the 4-5 favorite in a field of nine, battled on the early pace and took o ver to win by 4 3/4 lengths. Trained by Tim Yakteen, Beneficial graduated in his sixth career start, and was claimed out of the race for $12,500 to the barn of Jeff Mullins. Beneficial is out of the Machiavellian mare Marietta, a Grade 3 winner routing on both dirt and synthetic. She won $297,082 in her racing career. Her top-earning foal, the Bernardini mare Dorothea, won twice and earned $136,879 on the track.
Sergeant Capps earned a 113 HRN speed figure at Belmont at Aqueduct, breaking his maiden in his 18th career start. The 3-year-old colt by West Coast rallied in the lane to win a 6 1/2-furlong maiden claiming race as the 8-5 favorite. The Wayne Potts trainee was up for a $35,000 tag, but not claimed out of the race. He is out of the winning Speightstown mare Private Estate. His top-earning sibling, the Awesome Again gelding Prospect Project, won eight times and earned $71,770 in Puerto Rico. Another half-sibling, the Lookin at Lucky horse Aguasbonense, is Grade 3-placed at Camarero.
Sunday's top maiden winners
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance | Winning Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 122 | Keithing Thunder | Mesa Thunder | 3C | SA 4 | 1 mile dirt | 3 1/2 |
| 117 | Beneficial | Malibu Moon | 4G | SA 8 | 5 1/2f dirt | 4 3/4 |
| 113 | Sergeant Capps | West Coast | 3C | BAQ 1 | 6 1/2f dirt | nose |
| 110 | Well Aware | City of Light | 3F | KEE 2 | 7f dirt | 1 |
| 108 | Unrivaled Time | Not This Time | 2C | SA 9 | 1 mile turf | 4 1/2 |
| 108 | Wild Card | Silent Name | 3G | WO 1 | 7f syn | 3 3/4 |
| 106 | Our Moneyman | Mr. Money | 2C | KEE 9 | 6f dirt | nose |
| 106 | Reb Five | Vekoma | 2C | WO 4 | 6 1/2f syn | 5 |
| 105 | Protective Custody | Ghostzapper | 3F | LRL 3 | 1 1/8 turf | 1/2 |
| 104 | Calathea | Tonalist | 4F | GP 1 | 6f dirt | 10 1/4 |
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.