First of all, run ups are variable, even for the same distance at the same track on the same day. Equibase puts them in the chart for each race and gives them to us in the data feed we get daily. And our trackmen also do them for us as a check, the way Bill showed them to— you go out with a tape measure and measure the distance between the fence poles, then count the poles for the run up before each race.

We have a run up sheet showing what the run ups in feet come out to in hundredths of seconds. We got it from Connie Merjos (first trackman for both Ragozin and TG, the guy who taught Bill, and a great, interesting guy). Connie got it from someone else (disregard any bullshit to the contrary in Ragozin’s book), and I gave a copy to Randy Moss and the Beyer guys to help them check the clockings a few years ago.

Re the Tampa 3yo stakes, I have them marked for review as well. The problem for Beyer is there’s a ton of ground loss in those races, which they don’t adjust for, so the figures for those horses came up slow.

I also have the Fla Derby marked. I have the track getting faster and the race a couple of points slower than Beyer and Ragozin do, but it’s not 100%, and the problem is the horses won’t run back before the Derby so there won’t be new information til then. There’s some chance I’ll change my mind before the seminar, and I’ll definitely review the Tampa races before then.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2026 06:18PM by TGJB.