Speed figures: Well-bred N.Y. winner leads Friday's fastest
Into the Light led all runners Friday, earning a 132 Horse Racing Nation speed figure when breaking his maiden in a maiden special weight dirt mile at Belmont at Aqueduct. The 3-year-old Into Mischief gelding, trained by Rick Dutrow, defied 15-1 odds. He stalked the pace, forged to a narrow lead in the lane, and ran on to win by half a length. It was his first victory in his fifth career start.
Mr. Disrespectful earned a 126 HRN speed figure at Los Alamitos, the joint second-fastest of the day, in a first-level allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs on the Los Alamitos dirt. The 6-year-old Smiling Tiger gelding, trained by Craig Dollase, was a 4-1 shot in a field of seven. He pressed the pace before bidding in earnest into the lane and running on to win by 2 1/2 lengths. It was his first win of the year and his sixth in 20 starts.
Kid Dynasty also posted a 126 HRN speed figure at Los Alamitos. The 4-year-old Constitution ridgling, the 8-5 favorite in the conditioned $12,500 claiming race at six furlongs on the dirt, pressed the pace early before taking over and winning by 5 1/2 lengths. He was trained by Tim Yakteen into the race, but was claimed to the barn of Jorge Farias out of it. It was his second win of his eight-start career, with both of those wins coming in his three starts this year.
Friday's top 10 speed figures
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age/ Sex |
Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 132 | Into the Light | Into Mischief | 3G | BAQ 5 | 1 mile dirt |
| 126 | Mr. Disrespectful | Smiling Tiger | 6G | LRC 6 | 6 1/2f dirt |
| 126 | Kid Dynasty | Constitution | 4G | LRC 2 | 6f dirt |
| 121 | Cash Call | McKinzie | 4F | CD 8 | 6f dirt |
| 121 | Bite and Strike | Liam's Map | 4G | BAQ 7 | 6f turf |
| 120 | Winrooski | Win Win Win | 3F | GP 4 | 5 1/2f syn |
| 119 | Rabeeba | Curlin | 3F | LRC 5 | 6 1/2f dirt |
| 119 | Shinigami | Prime Attraction | 4G | GP 9 | 1 1/16 syn |
| 118 | Power of Women | Big Brown | 3F | BAQ 3 | 7f dirt |
| 117 | Lambeth | Arrogate | 5H | CD 6 | 1 1/16 turf |
Fastest maiden winners
Into the Light, whose 132 HRN speed figure was the fastest of any horse Friday, earned that in a maiden special weight mile at Belmont at Aqueduct. The 3-year-old gelding by Into Mischief, trained by Rick Dutrow, graduated in his fifth career start. His dam is the Malibu Moon mare By the Light, who won 10 times, placed at the Grade 1 level, and earned $885,632 on the racetrack. She has produced nine winners from 10 starters. The leader is the Indian Charlie mare By the Moon, a two-time Grade 1 winner who earned $1.55 million during her career.
Rabeeba earned a 119 HRN speed figure in her debut win in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight at Los Alamitos. Sent off the 1-5 favorite of seven, the Bob Baffert trainee was pressured early before taking over and running on to win by 1 1/2 lengths. A 3-year-old Curlin filly, she is the seventh winner from nine starters out of the Maria's Mon mare Chatham, who won three times and placed at the stakes level. Her top earner is Air Force Blue, a three-time Group 1 winner who earned $844,919 on the track.
Georgie's Warrior earned an 87 HRN speed figure in his debut maiden win Friday at Belmont at Aqueduct. The 2-year-old Nashville colt, trained by Melanie Giddings, was the 8-5 second choice of four in the 5 1/2-furlong dirt sprint. He battled on the early pace before taking command and winning by 5 3/4 lengths. Georgie's Warrior is the fifth winner from six starters out of the multiple graded-stakes winner Jojo Warrior. Her leading winners include Under Oath, an eight-time winner and earner of $291,869, as well as Impulse Buy, a stakes winner who earned $264,985 in her career.
Friday's top maiden winners
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age/ Sex |
Race | Distance | Winning Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 132 | Into the Light | Into Mischief | 3G | BAQ 5 | 1 mile dirt | 1/2 length |
| 119 | Rabeeba | Curlin | 3F | LRC 5 | 6 1/2f dirt | 1 1/2 lengths |
| 106 | Noble Heritage | Tapit | 3G | BAQ 2 | 7f dirt | neck |
| 105 | Watch Over Us | Army Mule | 3F | LRC 8 | 6f dirt | 3 1/2 lengths |
| 100 | Agrowest | Smiling Tiger | 3G | LRC 4 | 6 1/2f dirt | 1/2 length |
| 88 | Truly Thrilling | Vekoma | 3F | LRL 5 | 5 1/2f turf | nose |
| 87 | Georgie's Warrior | Nashville | 2C | BAQ 1 | 5 1/2f dirt | 5 3/4 lengths |
| 83 | Vekoma Velocity | Vekoma | 3G | LRL 4 | 1 mile dirt | 3/4 length |
| 82 | Butler Road | Uncle Lino | 3F | LRL 1 | 5 1/2f turf | 1/2 length |
| 75 | Turbo Charged | Instagrand | 3G | WO 4 | 1 1/16 syn | 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.