>Its that aspect that ground loss is very overrated. <

I think there’s another scenario where ground loss can be either overrated or underrated.

Imagine me in a 1 mile race on a quarter mile track setting the pace for one of our Olympic hopefuls. Imagine that world-class runner stalking me all the way running 2 lanes wider than me. When we reach the top of the stretch, he let’s loose his best effort and draws off.

IMO, with that trip he will finish just as well (fast) off my snail pace despite losing ground as he would if he had sucked in behind me all the way and then opened up without any ground loss.

Now imagine the same scenario except he is stalking a world class pace 2 lanes out. IMO, he is not only losing important ground, but he is probably exerting himself above the level he should just to maintain his stalking position.

IMO, fractions (and thus energey used) should also be adjusted for ground loss.
I think you have to look at when a horse is wide (how fast they were going) to judge the full impact of the ground loss.

The most obvious example of this is the first turn in routes.

You will typically see closing contenders lose several lengths jogging along in the back of the pack and still run a huge race despite the ground loss. Compare that to what happens to speed horses that are hung 3-4 wide pressing to get the lead. Huge favorites with that trip often wind up well out of the money from the exertion.

I think this is even an issue on the second turn when it comes to closers and pace pressers.

In the typical race, a closer will begin to really exert itself to get into position on the second turn. If that fraction happens to be particularly fast or slow relative to the norm the position improvement could have either a negative or positive impact on his total performance over and above the ground loss.

IMO, that's why you also occasionally see closers run huge figures off very fast fractions. The late middle part of the race tends to be slow. So the point in the race where a closer is typically really pushing and sapping important energy to get in position is a little easier and less contested than normal.

A lot of people disagree with the above. It’s very tough to prove because of the complexities of making pace and speed figures. But I have seen enough evidence to convince me that’s the case.