HedgerPro User Guide
Introduction
Distance Beaten (DB) is how many lengths behind the winner a horse, jockey or trainer usually finishes, on average over the period. Lower is better.
Winners count as a negative distance equal to their winning margin, so winning by 3 lengths counts as -3.
How it is calculated
Per run
| Result | Distance used |
|---|---|
| Won | Minus the winning margin (how far the second was beaten). Won by 2 lengths gives -2. |
| Placed or unplaced | The total distance beaten by the winner. Beaten 8 lengths gives 8. |
| Did not finish | Not counted. |
Distances are capped at 100 lengths so a single tailed-off run cannot dominate.
Rolling figure
DB = total distance across finishing runs / number of finishing runs
Example over four runs:
| Run | Distance |
|---|---|
| Won by 2 lengths | -2.0 |
| 2nd, beaten 1.5 lengths | 1.5 |
| 5th, beaten 8 lengths | 8.0 |
| Pulled up | not counted |
| DB = (-2 + 1.5 + 8) / 3 | 2.5 |
The rolling figure is shown to one decimal place. 0 is the best possible rolling figure.
Reading it
- 0 or close to 0 means the entity usually wins, or finishes very close up. Winning margins count in its favour by offsetting defeats.
- DB only looks at runs where the horse finished. Check the runs and non-finisher figures alongside it.
- Best DB is the lowest rolling figure in the period and worst is the highest. The trend is flipped, so positive still means improving.
- The normalised score is also flipped: a DB near 0 gives a normalised score near 100.
- Lengths mean different amounts of time in sprints and long-distance races. Over a long distance, a 10-length defeat is a smaller gap in speed terms than in a 5-furlong sprint. For a speed-based comparison, see Speed Grade.