RaceMetrics has released the second part of its Sectionals suite: three tabs measuring how a horse distributed its speed across a race. Finishing Speed % (FSP%) shows each horse's closing speed from any point to the line, expressed as a percentage of its own average speed for the whole race. A figure of 100 means the horse ran at its race average; figures above 100 show faster-than-average closing speed.
Each column carries a par — the ground-adjusted benchmark for that section. This par is not flat. It climbs above 100 through the middle of the race, then drops into the high nineties by the line, because horses naturally slow late. Read each horse's FSP% against the par above it: green indicates the horse beat par; red shows it fell short.
How to use it
FSP% Diff automates the comparison. It subtracts the par from each horse's FSP% at every section, showing positive figures when a horse beat par and negative when it fell short. The Average column gives a single figure for each horse's overall finishing-speed bias across the race.
FSP% Efficiency ranks every horse at every section by how efficiently it ran that ground — rank one, shaded gold, is most efficient. A horse ranking well through the closing sections wasted the least energy exactly when it counts.
Sort by FSP% Diff or Efficiency to find closers beaten by the run of the race rather than by ability.
