Sprinting and Surging

Published: 20 May 2016

High Sprint, Low Surge - Heart Testa is a horse that can quicken for a short period before his run ends

One of the most over-used terms in racing is “turn-of-foot” so the Analysts at The Race Guide try and use it as little as possible.

Watching races with big powerful horses accelerating up to 70 km/h is a lot different to grinding types running on from the back off a strong tempo, but you can bet the famous three words will be used to describe the winner in both scenarios.

So what is everyone talking about? And is there an easier way?

Race Pattern

Before we get into the technical stuff, knowing a typical race pattern for a race with a FAIR tempo is important to know.

As we all know horses jump from the barriers and quicken into a position before settling during the run.

It’s about the 500 metre mark that jockeys will ask their horses for an effort and you’ll see the speed increase from there, however most gallopers can’t sustain their run for that distance and slow down over the last 200 metres.

Sprint

Given a fair tempo it’s not hard to work out where a horse with more Sprint and Power would perform best.

Those types of horses quicken better than the others from the 500 metre mark and track into the race strongly under a hold. It’s the ‘one-paced’ types that are soon under hard riding as soon as the pace steps up.

Surge

When the energy levels are low at the 200 metre mark stamina becomes more important than speed. If a horse can sustain its finishing Surge and not slow down they will make ground on the rest of the pack.

The final stages of a race can trick the eye with horses storming home that aren’t accelerating at all. More often than not it’s a case of the leaders tiring.

Why Does it Matter?

Knowing the Sprint and Surge of a horse helps to know which conditions will suit best. There’s no hard and fast rule, but the following conditions are usually better for horses with a good Sprint or Surge.

It’s interesting to see the impact it has on dry track and wet track performance too, often the only reason a horse prefers the wet is that it stops some of the faster horses from accelerating.

High Sprint horses like...

• Steady Tempo
• Shorter Distances
• Dry Tracks (sometimes)

High Surge horses like...

• Strong Tempo
• Longer Distances
• Wet Tracks (sometimes)

The biggest reason of all to follow a horse's profile is that the betting market often doesn't factor it in. Dry track and wet track stats are in every form guide, but knowing which horse can sprint off a steady speed will really give you the edge.

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