Sectional Timing Made Simple

- how the big races were run

Confused about all the figures and fables generated into sectional timing data?
It doesn’t need to be.
Here’s a quick explanation.

The optimum way to expend energy is evenly.
Too much early, or too little early - both have a negative effect.
In a race it means an even pace should be best.

Many factors make that difficult to achieve.
Track undulations, false-rail configuration, hard or soft going are some of the things that matter.
Jockeyship, draw and positioning are other influences, often from split-second decisions.
So many factors to consider!

What we need is something that evens out all those influencing factors.
We do that by using average race times for a given distance on a given track.
It’s called 'standard time'.
We break it up in equal portions, sections of 200m, all with the same average time.
Then compare the recorded sectional times for each runner to those standard times.
And show the result in a table and related graph.

Standard times are averages.
The better horses should always do better, the lesser horses less.
The table and graph reveal who did what.

Listed here are black-type races that have recorded sectional times info.
All sectional times are expressed as a percentage of the standard time.
So less than 100% of standard time means faster, and more than 100% means slower than average.
The graphs shown are for the first four finishers in each race.
See for yourself!