Speed figures: See Friday's top winners, maiden-breakers
Faust led all performers with a 138 Horse Racing Nation speed figure in a six-furlong allowance sprint for horses who had never won two races. The 4-year-old Volatile colt, trained by Steve Asmussen, ran to his 4-5 odds. He stalked the early pace, bid on the turn, and cleared away down the lain to win by 7 3/4 lengths. It was his second win in 15 career starts.
Sand Street earned a 130 HRN speed figure in a six-furlong sprint at Fair Grounds. Sent off the 1-2 favorite, he prompted the pace before taking over in the final furlong to win by 3 1/4 lengths. The 4-year-old Speightstown gelding was trained by Carlos Santamaria into the race, but was claimed for $5,000 to the Jervon Broussard barn out of it. It was Sand Street's second win in a row and his third in seven lifetime starts.
Don't Wait Up completed the top three with a 128 HRN speed figure at Laurel Park in a six-furlong starter-optional claiming dirt sprint. The 7-year-old Upstart gelding, trained by Ferris Allen, was the 2-1 second choice of five. He settled off a speed duel, reeled them in during the final furlong, and got up to win by half a length. It snapped a streak of four runner-up finishes and gave him his 10th win in 41 career starts.
Friday's top 10 speed figures
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 138 | Faust | Volatile | 4C | OP 9 | 6f dirt |
| 130 | Sand Street | Speightstown | 4G | FG 1 | 6f dirt |
| 128 | Don't Wait Up | Upstart | 7G | LRL 7 | 6f dirt |
| 127 | Growth Equity | Nyquist | 3C | AQU 1 | 1 mile dirt |
| 124 | Inefficiency | Constitution | 4F | AQU 7 | 1 mile dirt |
| 123 | Junction Road | Girvin | 5H | GP 2 | 1 1/16 syn |
| 123 | Finster | Sky Mesa | 5G | OP 10 | 6f dirt |
| 122 | Uncle Chilly | Smiling Tiger | 5G | SA 7 | 5 1/2f dirt |
| 120 | Firmantown | War Front | 4C | LRL 1 | 6f dirt |
| 119 | Make My Day | Gun Runner | 3C | GP 5 | 1 1/16 dirt |
Fastest maiden winners
Growth Equity posted the day's highest maiden winner figure with a 127 HRN speed figure at Aqueduct. The 3-year-old colt by Nyquist captured a maiden special weight dirt mile at 1-9 odds for trainer Chad Brown, graduating in his third career start. He stalked the early pace, rallied to the lead around the turn, and drove further clear late to win by 4 1/4 lengths. Growth Equity is the third winner from four starters out of the Grade 3-placed Wildcat Heir mare My Dear Venezuela. The top earner among them is Bad to the Bones, an Arrogate gelding who has won once and earned $103,338 so far.
Make My Day impressed with a 119 HRN speed figure in a 1 1/16-mile dirt maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park. The 3-year-old Gun Runner colt, trained by Todd Pletcher, went off at 5-2 odds in his second career start. He led at every call, holding to win by 1 1/2 lengths. A $1.1 million yearling, Make My Day is the seventh winner from eight starters out of the Grade 2 winner Magical Feeling. Two of those winners have scored at the graded level: Imagination is a multiple Grade 2 winner and earner of $2.1 million on track and Occult won three times including once at the Grade 3 level, earning $721,006 on track. Both Imagination and Occult are by Into Mischief.
Call Me Cory earned a 119 HRN speed figure in a maiden special weight turf mile at Santa Anita, rounding out Friday's three fastest maiden winners. The 4-year-old Uncle Mo colt, trained by Ryan Hanson, graduated in his third career start. Sent off at 7-2 odds, he sped to a clear lead and held to win by 1 3/4 lengths. He is the third winner from four starters out of the winning Speightstown mare Fashion Week. The top earner among his siblings so far is New York Strong, an Into Mischief gelding who has wo once and earned $61,980. His only racing-age sibling who has yet to win, the Nyquist filly Fashion Quest, is entered in a maiden special weight Saturday at Gulfstream for trainer Bill Mott.
Friday's top maiden winners
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance | Winning Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 127 | Growth Equity | Nyquist | 3C | AQU 1 | 1 mile dirt | 4 1/4 lengths |
| 119 | Make My Day | Gun Runner | 3C | GP 5 | 1 1/16 dirt | 1 1/2 lengths |
| 119 | Call Me Cory | Uncle Mo | 4C | SA 3 | 1 mile turf | 1 3/4 lengths |
| 114 | Fulla Wicked Sugar | Bobby's Wicked One | 3F | FG 7 | 6f dirt | 3 3/4 lengths |
| 114 | Weekend Princess | Vekoma | 3F | SA 5 | 5 1/2f dirt | 6 1/4 lengths |
| 113 | N. Y. Finest | Connect | 3C | LRL 3 | 5 1/2f dirt | 1 1/4 lengths |
| 112 | Edelweiss | Ghostzapper | 4G | LRL 8 | 1 mile dirt | 15 1/2 lengths |
| 109 | First Blessing | Maximus Mischief | 3C | AQU 6 | 7f dirt | 1 3/4 lengths |
| 107 | One Tough Road | Quality Road | 3C | FG 5 | 1 mile dirt | 5 lengths |
| 100 | Rethink | Vekoma | 4F | SA 1 | 6f turf | 4 1/4 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.