The class of the race

A figure is quoted without a band it cannot be read. The class is the band of marks a race is open to, together with the conditions that come with it, and it decides both who may enter and what a mark is worth once they have.

Open the partner account What a figure cannot say

Sample spec

Sample race: 0-90, Class 3, 6f
Entries: 40
Declared: 20
Eliminated on the mark: 20

the stringThe finishing position of the last six runs, newest first. On the samples it carries 48 of 48 positions and 0 of 48 margins, distances, grounds or field sizes.

the markThe official rating, set so a field of similar marks finishes close together on paper. On the samples it moved on four of six runs, for a net change of 8 lb.

the allowanceThe correction applied to a standard time for the ground. On the samples the going allowance is worth 19.2 points at six furlongs, against 2.4 points for the whole weight spread.

Direct answerThe class of a race is the band of official ratings it accepts, written as a ceiling and a floor, plus the conditions attached to it: the distance, the ages and sexes that may run, the penalties and allowances, and the entry price. A mark of 86 is a different runner in a 0-100 band, a 0-90 band and a 0-80 band, because the band decides the field it meets.

Sample F is one invented 0-90 handicap over 6f for runners aged three and up. It is used here for the part of the card that the figures do not show: the entry, the declaration and the elimination, all of which happen before the race and none of which appear in any figure printed afterwards.

Sample F - the sample's own class bands, and what a band does
Class	Band on the sample's scale	Top weight	What it means for a figure
Class 2	0-100	9-12	a mark of 86 is 14 lb below the top of the band
Class 3	0-90	9-12	a mark of 86 is 4 lb below the top of the band
Class 4	0-80	9-12	the same mark of 86 cannot run at all
Class 5	0-70	9-12	the floor of 9-00 arrives at a mark of 63
Four classes	0-100 down to 0-70	heading the weights at 9-12	the same runner fits one band and not the others

Sample F - forty entries, twenty runners, and the number that decided itentries 40 places in the race 20 if more than 20 are declared, the sample's rule eliminates the lowest-rated until the field fits the 20th highest mark was 74 so every entry on 74 or above stayed and every entry on 73 or below was eliminated 20 runners at 74 or above 20 eliminated at 73 or below the margin between staying and going is 1 lb of mark and the mark was published 5 days before the race what else the conditions moved a win since the weights were published: a 6 lb penalty runners aged three: a 3 lb allowance the entry price and the race's own band, both fixed before any of the figures on the card were set

Half the field was decided by a single pound of mark, five days before the race. That is the part of a card that no speed figure and no form string can carry, and it is why a figure quoted without its band is only half a figure.

The conditions are the rest of the class

Two races can share a band and accept different runners, because the conditions differ. Age, sex, whether winners are excluded, whether the race is for horses that have never won, the distance and the entry price all change the field, and the field is what a rating was calibrated against in the first place.

Find the band before reading any figure on the page: it decides whether the mark is high or low in its field.
Look for the elimination order on races that were oversubscribed; it is a number, not an opinion.
Check the age and sex allowances, which move a weight and therefore a figure.
Read a penalty as part of the conditions, and note that it is applied after the weights are published.
Never compare a figure set in one band with a figure set in another without saying so.

Where to go next

What a race card printsforty invented cards, read for what is on them The conditions in fullpenalties, allowances and the ballot The mark and how it movesthe number the band is measured in