Speed figures: These are Friday's fastest horses
Madaket Road led all performers with a 124 Horse Racing Nation speed figure in a six-furlong sprint allowance at Churchill Downs. Trained by Bob Baffert, the 4-year-old Quality Road colt battled on the pace before taking over in the lane to win by 1 3/4 lengths. It was his first start since December and his second win in 10 starts.
Father Ted earned a 123 HRN speed figure winning a six-furlong maiden special weight on the dirt at Santa Anita. The Mark Glatt trainee stalked the early pace before taking over in the lake to win by 7 3/4 lengths. It was the 3-year-old Practical Joke colt's first start since January and his first win in three starts.
Purrfect Girl completed the top three with a 122 HRN speed figure at Woodbine in a seven-furlong synthetic starter optional claimer. The 5-year-old mare by Kitten's Joy, trained by Michael Wright, Jr., tracked the early pace before taking over to win by three lengths. She won for the second time in a row and the fifth in 21 starts.
Friday's top 10 speed figures
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 124 | Madaket Road | Quality Road | 4C | CD 8 | 6f dirt |
| 123 | Father Ted | Practical Joke | 4C | SA 1 | 6f dirt |
| 122 | Purrfect Girl | Kitten's Joy | 5M | WO 5 | 7f syn |
| 121 | Goodbye Note | Blofeld | 5G | LRL 8 | 1 mile dirt |
| 120 | Munnings Express | Munnings | 4F | BAQ 1 | 7f dirt |
| 118 | Mister Banderas | Star Guitar | 5G | CD 3 | 7f dirt |
| 118 | Sassy Princess | Cairo Prince | 5M | CD 5 | 1 mile dirt |
| 117 | Grace and Grit | Munnings | 4F | BAQ 2 | 7f dirt |
| 115 | Nabokov | Uncle Mo | 7G | BAQ 3 | 6 1/2f dirt |
| 113 | Outlaw Country | Good Samaritan | 6G | GP 8 | 1 3/16 syn |
Fastest maiden winners
Father Ted earned a 123 HRN speed figure, the second fastest of any horse on the day and the best of any Friday maiden winner. He is out of the Uncle Mo mare Cry Uncle, a five-time winner. He is the first starter out of Cry Uncle, a daughter of Uncle Mo who earned $110,000 during her racing career.
Only for Now impressed with a 111 HRN speed figure at Belmont at Aqueduct in her debut. The 3-year-old filly by Not This Time captured a six-furlong turf maiden special weight at 6-5 odds. The Miguel Clement trainee is out of Grade 3 winner Lonely Road, a Quality Road mare who earned $135,900. Her only other starter is Striver, a daughter of Uncle Mo who has hit the board once in five starts.
Back Nine Stakes earned a 110 at Gulfstream Park on Friday, breaking his maiden in his second career start. The sophomore Caravaggio colt, trained by Carlos David, won a 7 1/2-furlong maiden special weight on the grass, setting the pace and holding by three quarters of a length in his second career start. He is the third winner from three starters out of the English Channel mare English Dancer, a six-time winner who earned $288,103. His top-earning sibling is English Danger, a Karakontie mare who has won six times and earned $96,154.
Friday's top maiden winners
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance | Winning Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 123 | Father Ted | Practical Joke | 4C | SA 1 | 6f dirt | 7 3/4 lengths |
| 111 | Only for Now | Not This Time | 3F | BAQ 4 | 6f turf | neck |
| 110 | Back Nine Stakes | Caravaggio | 3C | GP 1 | 1 3/16 turf | 3/4 length |
| 108 | Souper Debonair | Nyquist | 3C | GP 9 | 1 1/16 turf | 1 3/4 lengths |
| 106 | Chairmanoftheboard | Known Agenda | 3G | CD 7 | 6f dirt | 2 1/2 lengths |
| 102 | Moonstrocity | Tiz the Law | 3C | GP 6 | 1 mile dirt | 1 1/2 lengths |
| 99 | Frac Is the Judge | Frac Daddy | 3F | WO 1 | 5 1/2f syn | 6 1/4 lengths |
| 92 | Jennys Wine Girl | Richard's Kid | 4F | SA 8 | 6f turf | 3 3/4 lengths |
| 86 | Encantar | Solomini | 3F | BAQ 8 | 1 1/16 turf | neck |
| 80 | Divulge | Thousand Words | 4F | LRL 2 | 5 1/2f dirt | 8 3/4 lengths |
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.