Any differences are not based on ground loss unless the differences are variable within the same race. In other words, if we have a whole race faster (or slower) than the usual 3-4 points on our respective scales, the reason has nothing to do with ground loss-- it could be 1 to 2 turn differentials, a changing variant throughout the day, or just making a different variant decision if the track stays the same speed. It may also have something to do with the tendencies of the individual doing the figures for a patricular circuit-- whether they are conservative, aggressive, or neither.

Those are the theoretical answers. In practical terms, the Ragozin system of applying one variant to both sprints and routes, and throughout whole days when the track is changing, means they are using what amounts to an average variant for the day. This will result in some races being too fast and some too slow. Ragozin by nature is very conservative-- which means he would rather have a couple of horses run back to tops and other races collapse than give out new tops (the place you really see this is when he's dealing with off tracks and windy days). That means that on those days the track is changing speed he will give some races much slower than they deserve, which is probably what you're seeing.

Look, I'm always interested in drawing people's attention to comparisons between us and Ragozin, for the same reason they don't want to. I'll look at examples if you give them to me, and I can show you what we did to give the figures we assigned. But I may not be able to tell you why Ragozin did what he did.



TGJB