They're pretty subtle; you'd be forgiven for missing them. Unless you had seen our twitter feed...
First full day of operation for our new 'go faster' stripes indicator, highlighting horses to have been marked up sectionally...
...and they flag a 43/1 exacta from just five runners on the day sporting the Fast Finisher badge! pic.twitter.com/0FLNIwztOu
— geegeez.co.uk (@geegeez_uk) September 15, 2022
https://twitter.com/geegeez_uk/status/1571149782768582659
That little 'go faster' stripe icon - which might have a colour change in coming days to make it 'pop' a touch more - indicates that a horse has finished quickly in one of its recent races. That, in turn, means it might be worth a second glance today. Specifically, it's highlighting a horse that appears on the Fast Finishers report for any of its most recent three runs. And, to be absolutely clear how horses appear on that report, the Fast Finishers (FF) report displays a list of those horses who finished more than 2.5% quicker than the race finishing time in the closing (C) section.
You do NOT need to know this - you only need to know that if they have the indicator they are capable of rattling home late under the right circumstances!
IMPORTANT NOTE: you need to opt in to viewing sectional data, which you can do in the 'Racecard Options' section of your My Geegeez page 👇
Without turning this into a sectional timing sermon, horses that close well have often performed better than their finishing position suggests, and can be value bets in upcoming races, assuming a similar race setup. Let's consider the case of Ayr Gold Cup winner and recent 'fast finisher', Summerghand. This is his form string (ignore the top line, which is the Ayr Gold Cup win).
Clicking the 'Show Sectionals' radio button top left presents a different perspective, with a number of things to pick out:
In the above visual, I've 'hovered' over the running line (the bit with 14 14 14 12 4) to reveal the race detail - jockey, position/field size, distance beaten, winner, odds, weight, headgear and, importantly, the in-running comment. "did well in the circumstances, 1st of 4 in group".
To the right of the running line is a little orange 'go faster stripe'. This means that not only was Summerghand a fast finisher, he was the fastest finisher in the race. As can be seen clearly from the first of the two form images above, he righted the injustice of Ripon's fast finish with a big field handicap win at York next time out. After that he was never nearer in a small field Listed race at Newmarket that wouldn't have played to his ability to finish in a truly run race, before doing just that to get the lot in the AGC.
It is important to note with all sectional data that, as is perfectly highlighted above, there are gaps in our knowledge. The gaps are due to the continued lack of availability of Course Track (Racing TV tracks) data. This is a source of ongoing deep frustration but it doesn't stop the subset we publish - for those tracks covered by Total Performance Data - shining a light on runners with the ability to 'do business' at the end of a race.
As we move to a time of year when all-weather racing will take place most days, TPD's sectional coverage at Lingfield, Newcastle, Southwell and Wolverhampton will provide us with many opportunities to back fast finishers when it looks like they'll get a similar race pace to aim at. For more on sectional timing, check out these posts.
Enjoy!
Matt