Fastest horses: These are Friday's top HRN speed figures
Paynted Warrior led all performers with a 138 Horse Racing Nation speed figure in a seven-furlong sprint for open $20,000 claimers at Tampa Bay Downs. The 6-year-old son of Warrior's Reward, trained by Jose Vargas, bounced to the early lead and drew off steadily to win by 14 1/4 lengths as the 3-1 second chioce of seven. It was his second victory in a raw, his third of the year and his ninth in 29 career starts.
Hymn earned a 135 HRN speed figure in a first-level allowance at Oaklawn, going six furlongs on dirt. Trained by Ron Moquett, the 4-year-old McKinzie gelding stalked the pace, rallied to challenge the leaders approaching midstretch, and held by a neck as the 2-1 favorite in the field of eight. It was his first win in three starts this year and the second in 11 lifetime races.
Kerness K completed the top three with a 129 HRN speed figure in a six-furlong starter-allowance dirt sprint at Laurel. A 4-year-old gelding by Great Notion, he was sent off a 1-9 favorite in the five-horse field for trainer Jamie Ness. He ran to those odds: though he sat in last early, he improved around the turn and cleared off under a hand ride to win by 9 1/4 lengths. It was his third consecutive win and his sixth in 14 lifetime outings.
Friday's top 10 speed figures
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 138 | Paynted Warrior | Warrior's Reward | 6G | TAM 6 | 7f dirt |
| 135 | Hymn | McKinzie | 4G | OP 9 | 6f dirt |
| 129 | Kerness K | Great Notion | 4G | LRL 3 | 6f dirt |
| 121 | Ms Notion | Great Notion | 4F | LRL 7 | 7f dirt |
| 121 | Payne | Paynter | 11G | OP 8 | 6f dirt |
| 120 | Tagliatelle | Tapwrit | 5G | KEE 1 | 7f dirt |
| 118 | Wonder Mist | Candy Ride | 3G | AQU 6 | 6 1/2f dirt |
| 117 | Resolute Will | Constitution | 3C | AQU 8 | 1 mile dirt |
| 116 | Big Commerce | Justify | 6G | OP 2 | 6f dirt |
| 115 | Zulu Kingdom | Ten Sovereigns | 4R | KEE 9 | 1 mile turf |
Fastest maiden winners
Resolute Will posted the day's highest maiden-winning HRN speed figure with a 117 in a maiden special weight dirt mile at Aqueduct. The 3-year-old Constitution colt, trained by Chad Brown, tracked the early pace before battling a protracted duel, holding on gamely to win that battle – and the race – by a head as the 2-1 second choice of eight. Breaking his maiden in his second career start, Resolute Will is the first starter out of the stakes-winning and multiple graded-stakes place Candy Ride mare Nonna Madeline.
Rebel Ridge impressed with a 112 HRN speed figure in a six-furlong sprint at Oaklawn for $30,000 Arkansas-bred maiden claimers. The Ernie Witt II trainee, a 3-year-old gelding by Mark Valeski, set a contested pace early and cleared in the lane to win by three lengths as the 5-2 second choice in a field of 12. His dam, the More Than Ready mare Ready For Life, only hit the board once in ten starts but has now produced three winners from four starters including Kaboom Baby, a stakes-winning Hightail mare who earned $498,909 on the racetrack.
Capital Connection earned a 111 HRN speed figure at Oaklawn on Friday, graduating in his 10th career start. The 5-year-old son of Connect, who had hit the board in eight of his nine previous outings, set a pressured early pace, opened up in the lane, and held by 1 1/2 lengths as the even-money favorite of seven. Trained by Steve Asmussen into the race, he was claimed for $20,000 to the barn of Carlos Santamaria out of it. Capital Connection is out of the winning Flatter mare Karaoke Queen, whose other starter is the Peace and Justice mare Six o'Clock Sarah, who won eight times and earned $256,511.
Thursday's top maiden winners
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance | Winning Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 117 | Resolute Will | Constitution | 3C | AQU 8 | 1 mile dirt | head |
| 112 | Rebel Ridge | Mark Valeski | 3G | OP 10 | 6f dirt | 3 lengths |
| 111 | Capital Connection | Connect | 5G | OP 4 | 6f dirt | 1 1/2 lengths |
| 109 | World Fair | Tapiture | 5G | OP 5 | 6f dirt | 1 1/2 lengths |
| 108 | Ring Curl | Curlin | 3C | KEE 6 | 6f dirt | 1 1/4 lengths |
| 107 | Erice | Frosted | 4F | LRL 6 | 5 1/2f turf | 1 1/2 lengths |
| 106 | Zephyros | Charlatan | 3C | GP 9 | 1 mile synthetic | 1 1/2 lengths |
| 103 | Nash Potatoes | Mendelssohn | 4G | KEE 2 | 7f dirt | 1 1/2 lengths |
| 103 | Free Advice | Kantharos | 4G | KEE 10 | 6 1/2f dirt | 3/4 length |
| 101 | Southern Lady | Midshipman | 3F | TAM 7 | 6 1/2f dirt | 1 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.