I think racing should take from cycling and add another component: the time trial. You have horses race together and horses time trial. Beyerlike speed figures make a lot of sense in time trials and Sheets type figures make more sense in races. (Running 11 lengths more than the winner, getting beat by a few lengths, and then getting a lower figure and thus being deemed TOO SLOW by the 'fanatics' doesn't quite make sense to me.)
I have no problem with acknowledging that a given horse is FASTER than another IF and only IF this comes as the result of a time trial type event. As I also have no problem with a horse that does something unique (goes against the grain) being better than its peers. Too bad the latter are very few and far between.
Of course, given that most of these horses can barely make it to the track for a handful of races a year (or career), we might not be seeing this new format any time soon. We're thus left debating FAST and SLOW.
