Winners at Del Mar and Saratoga lead fastest horses
Corporal Violette posted Thursday's highest Horse Racing Nation speed figure, earning a 131 in the opening race at Del Mar. The 6-year-old horse by Starspangledbanner, trained by Steve Knapp, tracked the pace and rallied to win the one-mile turf race by a neck at 5-1 odds. This marked his fourth career victory in his 30th start. He was claimed out of the effort, and went to the barn of Mark Rheinford.
Baby Yoda earned a 126 HRN speed figure at Saratoga in a seven-furlong dirt allowance optional claimer. The 7-year-old gelding by Prospective won at 6-5 odds, chasing midpack early and rallying to win by a length. Trained by Bill Mott, Baby Yoda won for the 11th time in 32 starts. He was up for the optional $100,000 claiming tag, and was claimed to the barn of Robert Falcone after the race.
English Actor completed the top three with a 119 HRN speed figure at Woodbine in a 1 1/16-mile allowance-optional claiming race on the turf. The 4-year-old gelding by English Channel scored at 6-5 odds, leading at every call. Trained by Rachel Halden, English Actor won for the second time in six starts.
Friday's top 10 speed figures
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 131 | Corporal Violette | Starspangledbanner | 6H | DMR 1 | 1 mile turf |
| 126 | Baby Yoda | Prospective | 7G | SAR 9 | 7f dirt |
| 119 | English Actor | English Channel | 4G | WO 4 | 1 1/16 turf |
| 118 | Queens Command | War Command | 6H | WO 6 | 1 1/16 turf |
| 117 | Hard to Figure | Hard Spun | 5G | DMR 4 | 1 mile dirt |
| 116 | Dynamic Pricing | Night of Thunder | 4F | SAR 11 | 1 mile turf |
| 115 | Chatham Up | Into Mischief | 3G | CNL 4 | 1 mile dirt |
| 115 | Secret Empire | Chitu | 4G | GP 6 | 6f dirt |
| 114 | Vayesta | Klimt | 4F | GP 4 | 5 1/2f synthetic |
| 113 | Killy Start | Upstart | 7H | SAR 4 | 7f dirt |
Fastest maiden winners
Chatham Up posted the day's highest maiden winner figure with a 115 HRN speed figure at Colonial Downs. The 3-year-old gelding by Into Mischief, trained by Brittany Russell, prompted the pace in the one-mile maiden special weight on the dirt and drew off to win by 5 1/4 lengths at 7-2 odds. He is out of Easy Living, a stakes-placed Big Brown mare who earned $153,300. His top sibling is My Kentucky Girl, a stakes-placed daughter of American Pharoah who has won three times and earned $232,395.
Steer Clear was cross-entered by trainer Todd Pletcher in a Friday maiden and Saturday's Spinaway Stakes (G1), but going in the maiden race paid off. She impressed with a 110 HRN speed figure in the seven-furlong dirt race, leading at every call and holding firm to win by 1 1/4 lengths. The 2-year-old filly by Street Sense was sent off at 9-5 odds in that second career start. She is out of the Unbridled's Song mare Simply Sunny, who is also the dam of Fore Left, a multiple graded-stakes placed earner of $507,076.
Power Dance earned a 105 HRN speed figure at Colonial Downs on Friday when she broke her maiden in her seventh career start. The 3-year-old filly by Higher Power, sent off as the 7-5 favorite, is owned and trained by William Grainger. She led at every call and won the 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight on the grass by 2 1/2 lengths over well-bet first-time starter You're So Vain. She is out of the stakes-placed In Summation mare Pursuing Fate, who earned $109,150 on the track. Power Dance's top sibling is Dancing On My Own, a Drill mare who has won six times and earned $248,112.
Friday's top maiden winners
| HRN | Horse | Sire | Age | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 115 | Chatham Up | Into Mischief | 3G | CNL 4 | 1 mile dirt |
| 110 | Steer Clear | Street Sense | 2F | SAR 2 | 7f dirt |
| 105 | Power Dance | Higher Power | 3F | CNL 1 | 1 1/16 turf |
| 104 | Victoriously | Win Win Win | 3F | SAR 12 | 1 1/16 turf |
| 101 | East Village | Twirling Candy | 2G | CNL 5 | 1 mile turf |
| 98 | Develop Product | City of Light | 3G | CNL 2 | 1 mile dirt |
| 98 | Magic Connection | Connect | 3G | DMR 2 | 5 1/2f dirt |
| 98 | Catalonia | Protonico | 2F | GP 5 | 5f turf |
| 97 | Stickupwithoutagun | McKinzie | 2C | SAR 5 | 6f dirt |
| 94 | Gretna Green | Where's the Ring | 3F | WO 5 | 6f synthetic |
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.
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