The mark and how it moves

The official rating is the number in the middle of a race card and the hardest one to read, because it is not a measurement of the runner. It is a mark assigned so that a race between the runners carrying marks has a close finish on paper, and it moves after almost every run.

Open the partner account What a figure cannot say

Sample spec

First mark: 78
Mark after six runs: 86
Runs that moved it: 4 of 6
Mean move: 2.33 lb a run

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 answerAn official rating is a mark, on a scale the authority fixes, that a handicapper moves after each run so that runners of similar ability carry similar weights. It rises after a win and usually falls after a poor run. It is a relative number: the same mark in two different rating bands describes two different runners, and the mark on its own says nothing about how fast the runner is.

Two facts about the mark decide how it should be read. It is iterative - the number on the card is the previous number plus whatever the last run did to it - and it is relative - it is calibrated so that a field of similar marks finishes close together. A mark of 86 is not an amount of speed; it is a position on a scale whose whole purpose is to make the weights work.

Six runs, one mark

Sample B follows one invented runner across six runs. The mark starts at 78. Each row shows what the run was, the mark that came out of it and the move in pounds.

Sample B - one runner's mark across six runs
Run	What happened	Mark before	Mark after	Move
B1	won a Class 4 by 2 lengths	78	84	+6
B2	3rd in a race for rated runners	84	84	0
B3	won again, by 1 length	84	89	+5
B4	unplaced in a stronger race	89	87	-2
B5	2nd, beaten a length	87	87	0
B6	4th, beaten 5 lengths	87	86	-1
Six runs	two wins, four runs without one	78	86	net +8

Sample B - how much the mark moves, and how oftenstart 78, end 86 net move 86 - 78 = +8 lb over 6 runs runs that moved the mark B1 +6 B3 +5 B4 -2 B6 -1 4 of 6 runs runs that did not B2 0 B5 0 2 of 6 runs mean move over all six runs (6 + 0 + 5 + 2 + 0 + 1) / 6 = 14 / 6 = 2.33 lb mean move over the four that moved 14 / 4 = 3.50 lb largest single move is +6, which is 75% of the net move of the whole six so one run out of six supplies three quarters of the change in the mark

The last line is the useful one. The mark is a running total of judgements, and the judgement that follows a win is several times the size of the judgement that follows an unplaced run. A reader who watches a mark without watching what produced it is watching the handicapper's summary, not the runner.

What a mark is relative to

The mark only has a meaning inside a band. Sample F's bands are the ones used across this desk: a runner on 86 can run in a Class 2 (0-100) and in a Class 3 (0-90) and cannot run in a Class 4 (0-80) at all. The same runner's mark is therefore a different proposition depending on which side of the card it appears on.

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

From a mark to a weight

The mark becomes a weight through one rule in the sample: the weights are headed at 9-12, carried by the highest-rated declared runner, and every pound of mark below that runner is a pound less weight, down to a floor of 9-00. Anything below the floor carries 9-00 and runs from out of the handicap.

Sample B - the mark as a weight in one racethe field is headed by a runner on 88, carrying 9-12 = 138 lb our runner is on 86 88 - 86 = 2 lb below the top-rated 9-12 = 9 x 14 + 12 = 138 lb 138 - 2 = 136 lb = 9-10 so the mark of 86 becomes 9-10 the floor arrives at 9-00 = 126 lb, which is a mark of 88 - 12 = 76 a runner on 74 carries 9-00 and is 2 lb out of the handicap the whole spread from 88 to 76 is 12 lb = 5.44 kg and at 6f it is worth 2.4 points on sample C's scale

Read the mark as a relative position inside its band, never as an amount of ability.
Look for what produced the move: a win moves a mark several times as far as an unplaced run.
Check the ceiling of the band. A runner on the top of its band cannot improve in it.
Convert the mark to a weight only with the field's own top weight, which the card does print.
Do not compare marks set in two different bands, by two different authorities or in two different seasons.

Where to go next

How a speed figure is computedthe same run measured by time instead of by judgement The class of the racebands, conditions and the ballot The weight carriedpenalties, claims and what a pound is worth