While there are many factors that can be used to evaluate the runners in a horse race, pace and class are probably the two hardest factors to quantify and use correctly. It's true that statistics can be used to handicap a horse race and a horse's average speed or average earnings per start are finite figures that can be used for comparisons, but when it comes to determining which runner is the best and second best and what the difference between them may actually be, there are no rules and nothing is to be taken for granted.
Just because one horse has a speed figure of 85 in its last race and the next fastest competitor has an 80, it doesn't mean that the top speed horse has a big advantage. The problem is that you must filter each factor through a net of factors to arrive at a true estimate of ability and projected outcome. For instance, if the 85 was earned against a weaker field that set a slow pace that benefited that horse, then the 85 may be a soft 85 while the horse that earned the 80 may have been in a very fast race against a contentious pace.
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