Beyer Speed Figure

Some of the best fillies and mares in the world will soon descend on Southern California for the Breeders' Cup. But one of the fastest fillies in the sport will spend the afternoon in a stall for the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, while her trainer, Michael McCarthy. figures out path he wants to take with 3-year-old filly Accuracy (Arrogate). She's certainly not ready for the Breeders' Cup after maiden win, but a phenomenal performance in an Oct. 19 race at Santa Anita suggest the Mike Repole owned 3-year-old could...

Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) has won three Grade Is and earned an Eclipse Award, but in Wednesday's GII Honorable Miss H. the 4-year-old filly added to her resume when she posted a Beyer Speed Figure of 112--the fastest number recorded by any horse going six furlongs this year. "I'm extremely proud of her race. That obviously was an impressive race and that would put a [big] number on it," Asmussen said. "I'm very happy with how she came out of the race yesterday....

Sergio Leone's 1966 masterpiece, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," was the last and best of a trilogy of Leone spaghetti westerns that upended the traditional genre. Before Leone and other Italian directors like Sergio Corbucci set about redefining the Old West in Europe, traditional domestic westerns featured clean-cut leads like John Wayne, Alan Ladd, Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, and Jimmy Stewart in films by directors like John Ford and Howard Hawks that clearly delineated the good from the bad and ugly. Not so Leone, who made the genre...

This is the story of Baby Yoda (Prospective): Bought shortly after he broke his maiden for $10,000 at Pimlico, he ran a 114 Beyer figure in a Saratoga allowance race, tying him for the fastest number on the year, and will now be sent into a graded prep for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. It sounds impossible. But it's not. "It's crazy," said Baby Yoda's co-owner Adam Wachtel. "It's hard to rationalize or accept. It's highly unusual to see something like this. He ran for $10,000 nine weeks ago and...

As the Breeders' Cup draws nearer, legendary author, columnist, figuremaker and handicapper Andy Beyer joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland this week. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Beyer discussed the future of playing the horses, what his action looks like these days and the evolution of speed figures over the years. Asked about his early Breeders' Cup opinions, Beyer understandably said he's against the strong on hype, weak on numbers Princess Noor (Not This Time), who figures to be among the...

Andy Beyer, creator of the Beyer Speed Figure, joined this week's Writers' Room Podcast to talk about his history in the game, how his figures have evolved over the years and a few of his picks for the upcoming Breeders' Cup.

When the horses in the fourth race at Del Mar Aug. 1 crossed the wire, the final time for the mile-and-a-sixteenth turf race was posted as 1:41.18. There was no reason to believe the race was mistimed and no announcements to that effect were made, but when the official chart was released by Equibase the time was listed as 1:40.80. It happened again in the next race on the card, a mile dirt race originally timed in 1:38.60, but changed to 1:38.53 in the official chart. It didn't stop there....

Mr. Money has proven more or less unbeatable since a breakout romp in the GIII Pat Day Mile on GI Kentucky Derby Day May 4, and the progressive colt strung together his fourth consecutive win Saturday while becoming a millionaire. Breaking well from a high draw, the heavy favorite locked on to Plus Que Parfait early and traveled under stout restraint through opening splits of :24.42 and :49.10. He poked a head in front turning for home, and was clearly going much better than his rivals as he hit the...