Chapter 7

 CHAPTER 7  

 Generic Flat Turf Time  

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 Time can mislead, but handled carefully it becomes one of the punter’s most useful reference points.  

Although par times had long been used in the United States to build speed ratings, they were slow to gain traction in Australian racing. 

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 A Turning Point: RacingBase and the Speed Ratings Debate  

 My name was recommended to Aaron Hamilton, Chief Editor of Racingbase.com.au, who was on the lookout for a South Australian tipster. During the interview, Aaron asked about my experience with speed ratings.

 

 I was forthright in expressing my skepticism.  

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 Aaron invited me to walk through my selections for the upcoming weekend — where I expected each horse to settle, the likely tempo, and the shape of each race. After hearing my analysis, he noted that his own assessments — based on speed ratings, aligned closely with mine.  

While he was happy to introduce me to Racingbase, the discussion also highlighted an important insight: speed rating analysis clearly has merit. We reached similar conclusions about the races, albeit through different analytical approaches. 

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 But back home in South Australia, I still wasn’t fully convinced. 

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 Victorian maiden winners from Bendigo or Geelong would cross into South Australia with speed ratings equal to or quicker than Adelaide metropolitan races. They’d start favourite in BM64 races at Morphettville — and repeatedly fail.  

The Birth of Generic Flat Turf Time   

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 While working for Racingbase and being exposed to speed‑rating analysis, I decided to revisit doing my own. I already understood how track ratings translate to margins — for example, the gap between a Good 4 and a Soft 5 is about three lengths. 

GFTT takes a broad cross‑section of times from City tracks around the country; these also host Midweek-Metro and Provincial meetings. The times are taken across a range of distances and varying track surfaces. A key finding was that time per furlong scales predictably with distance.  

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 Examples on a Good 4:  

• 1200m → 1:11.10 average → 11.85 sec per furlong.  

• 1400m → 1:24.00 average → 12.00 sec per furlong.  

• 1600m → 1:37.20 average → 12.15 sec per furlong. 

 

 Why GFTT Matters  

 Speed analysis is specialised. Punters can buy books on class and weight ratings and work through them at home.  

Still, punters benefit from understanding what constitutes a reasonable race time over any distance and surface.  

This is where the GFTT comes in.  

 

It removes guesswork when estimating:  

• a reasonable time over 1420m on a Good 4.  

• a reasonable time over 1760m on a Soft 5.  

• a reasonable time over 2170m on a Soft 6.  

It also helps determine the track rating in real‑time on race day. 

 

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