2012 Breeders' Cup Wrap - Part II

Following the completion of this year's Breeders' Cup, I pulled the Beyer, Bris and Equibase Speed Figures for each winner*, along with the Racing Post Ratings from the UK. I've arranged the data into three different tables for visual purposes: an summary and ranking of all Breeders' Cup race (regardless of surface), a ranking of all dirt races, and a ranking of all turf races. The numbers don't change that much from each table but I think the different surfaces probably need to be pulled apart even though "in theory" a figure on dirt is comparable to a figure on turf. The fact remains that turf racing is (typically) fundamentally different than racing on dirt.

*The data includes all stakes races at Santa Anita on Friday and Saturday, including the non-Breeders' Cup races.

Looking first at the overall numbers, Fort Larned's victory in the Classic ranks as the best performance of the weekend from Beyer, Bris and the Racing Post, with Equibase ranking that race second best to Wise Dan's victory in the Mile.

Groupie Doll's Filly & Mare Sprint victory edges Wise Dan's Mile as the second best performance, ranking as the second best figure from Beyer and Bris, the third best from Equibase and, somewhat surprisingly, the fifth best rating from the Racing Post.

The juvenile races all came back at the bottom of the rankings with Beholder's victory in the Juvenile Fillies as the best juvenile race of the weekend, according to this analysis.

Turning to the races by each surface (which you can find in the tables below), take note that the Racing Post is more bullish on the performance of George Vancouver than any of the speed figure systems. The Racing Post has the Juvenile Turf as the third best turf performance of the weekend (trailing only Wise Dan and Little Mike), while speed figures place the same race behind Mizdirection, Zagora (FR) and Grandeur (IRE).