Hi Manikato,

Glad you found the website. Yes you are right, you would go crazy trying to use Sportscolour data as part of a comprehensive approach to racing. The other thing is that some of their sectional times can be quiet inaccurate. When there is a problem they often have to use estimates.

On the whole though they are pretty good and a great tool for learning about the speed characteristics of races and the fact as I stated to Testa that the final 200m is always the slowes (excluding the start).

The point about Sunline is 100% correct, she wins her races by burning the field off between the 800m and 400m marks. She then tires from the 400 to 200 and most notably then from the 200 to WP. This is the way she won her two Cox Plates. By doing this the other horses are effectively gassed by the turn and while they make some ground, they don't have the class to win. Her tiring rate is far greater over 2000m than 1600m indicating that she is at her best at the mile. I have no doubt that she is world class over 1600m.

Northerly on the other hand is a versatile horse, he had shown in early races the ability to go at a reasonable speed early but then maintain that to the line. He does tire of course, but nowhere near as much as other horses. He is the strongest horse over the last 200m we have seen in a while. What is termed his fighting courage where he often gets headed but then comes back, is simply the other horses tiring more in the last bit and Northerly keeping going at a similar rate.

This is one reason i have always backed Northerly to beat Sunline and while he will always beat them when they meet. Northerly is strongest in the part of the race that Sunline is at her weakest. He has the ability to go with her and then keep coming as she tires. If you watch the video of their runs together thats exactly how it looks. In all cases, including the Cox Plate she gets away and he looks beaten but he just keeps coming. In last years Cox Plate, Northerly was the only horse who in the last 200m was travelling at a faster rate than he was was the first 1240m, all other runners were travelling slower.

In saying all that, Might & Power was even better than Northerly. He had the ability to cruise alot at what others would find a fast tempo but then accelerate away from the 600m mark.

He is by far the best horse I have seen in the past 10 years and would beat Northerly 7 times out of 10 and Sunline 10 times out of 10 over 2000m.