About Class Figures

Class Figures are the product of 10 years work in trying to devise a satisfactory rating system for class in UK racing. I had previously read a multitude of books talking about class and the abstract qualities of class but very few put forward a rating system for class. Ultimately to my mind I was never completely satisfied with the ratings that were produced.

I wanted to develop a rating system that would primarily allow me to separate the potential winners of a horse race from the also rans. Once I had made that decision I wanted to have the ability to rate the class potential of the horses in the race. By class potential I mean what class level have these horses been running at and within those class levels how competitive have they been?

My Class Figure ratings were devised to answer those questions. I use Class Figures to give historic ratings to the horses in a field that I believe are the main contenders in a given race. The ratings reflect the level of the race and the performance of the horse combined to give a meaningful comparison between each horse.

Class Figures are a rating system based on the quality of race that a horse has competed in and the level of track at which the race was run. I wanted to try and develop a system that struck a balance between some of the intrinsic relationships that happen within UK horseracing every day. All tracks are not equal and all class levels are not equal but there is an order of things. There is a direct relationship that can be found in the class of horses raced at the different levels of tracks.

Of course it is not just about what track a horse has raced at previously the class at which the horse raced is also an important factor. For example you may think that all Class 3 races regardless of the track they are run at are equal. Although in theory this should be the case, in practise it is not. This can be seen by looking at the purses offered at the different class of track. The average purse of an Ascot Group 3 race is much higher than the average purse of a Group 3 race run at a lower grade of track.

This inequality means that the better racehorses run more often at the better tracks. My aim was to put across a rating system that took this fact into consideration and also that looked at the individual performance of a horse, so that the final figure would have a reflection on how well they performed or how badly they were beaten. This would then provide me with a single rating per horse per race that could be used for comparison purposes.
Once I had my theory for the basis of the Class Figure rating system it was time to look at the component parts of which it would be made. The first thing I considered was the level of the different tracks in the UK. As you will see from the table below we have broken down the levels of the track from Ascot at the top to Southwell at the bottom. The key thing with Class Figures is to put across the differences that are inherent in UK racing in a rateable format.