There you go again, Lucy.

For the record Mr. Eckhart was absolutely spot on in his comments on the two Timeform figures. The usual Timeform figure is based on the collateral performances of the horses in a race while the timefigure is a pure speed number.

Since, as has been widely documented, Jerry uses the past efforts of horses to make a variant for each race whereas Ragozin bases variant changes on the 'physical resiliency' of the surface then I would have thought his point re the differences between the two figures was also pretty accurate. No surprise that you'd see it as the complete opposite, then.

The example cited by Mr. Eckhart re Doyen shows why UK figures are performance rather than speed-based. In the UK the maxim is a good time means a good horse but it is also true that good horses can put up a good performance in a slowish race.

It is also the case that the effort put into winning a slow-run race can be more meritorious than winning a fast-run race. Any athlete will tell you that a stop-go race is far more demanding than one run at a level pace. Athletes train by sprinting for a set distance, then jogging, then sprinting and so on. They do it because to do so is more strenuous than running the same distance at a level pace even though that level pace may be quicker. Is there any reason to believe horses are different?

Making figures in the Europe is very different to the US. Any attempt to link the 'variant' between races is relatively pointless. For a start the climate is much more changeable and the going can change during the course of a day either through rain falling or the surface drying out. Races are run on anything from hard to heavy ground.

Even if there are no weather considerations to take into account the physical layouts of each track also affect 'variants.' Most tracks have a straight course (anything up to a mile) and a round course. Only the last 3-4f of each course are common while two tracks, Kempton and Sandown, have totally separate straight courses for sprints. Because of their varied topography UK courses will also have low-lying patches of ground which may be softer than the rest of the course but which do not get raced over in every race.

Finally races in the UK are run in a very different style to the US. As the home stretches are at least 3-4f long (apart from Chester) then having a good position turning in is not so important. Thus, unless there is a confirmed front-runner in the race, the early pace can be moderate and the race more tactical.

Thus, as Mr. Eckhart pointed out, UK figure-makers tend to put more emphasis on the relative merits of the horses rather than on the time or relating the time of the race to that of surrounding races.

George