James Willoughby on why speed is of the essence when rating horses

Most people believe that a horse's handicap mark is important. So most people therefore believe there is value in rating horses.

Few people believe the same value exists in making speed figures. But, when a handicapper puts a form rating to a race without even looking at the time, he or she is assigning a single-race going allowance and making a speed figure. After all, the distances between horses are merely lags in time. And if you rate the winner 70, you are using time to produce all the other ratings in the same race.

So, when rating horses, everything is time and time is everything.