Re: Where's the outrage??? (class) (988 Views)
Posted by:
NormandyInvasion (IP Logged)
Date: June 24, 2017 07:23PM
ajkreider Wrote:
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> I've always thought that "class" was a proxy for
> good speed figures, from a time when there weren't
> good speed figures. A horse that places in G1s
> will be faster than one that places in allowance
> races, because the former is facing faster company
> (on average).
>
> But good speed figures make that kind of analysis
> mostly irrelevant. I say "mostly" because a horse
> running back to a typical number in a stakes race
> validates those numbers (in my mind, at least) to
> a greater degree than running back to a number in
> an allowance.
I don't think class always equals figures. As pointed out, Songbird and Zenyatta are good examples. I believe AP may be another recent one with figures relatively mediocre probably until his last race. I believe that Timeform uses class in their figures which is why they were basically the lone entity assigning AP the top spot in the totem pole early on.
Class looks at who you beat or how good the onlooker thinks the horse is regardless of time. Without times in Europe to a large degree, this is how they ranked horses, the prestige of the race, who they beat, and how they looked doing it.
That's how I look at it.