Punting Form Meeting Reports are a data-driven approach to understanding how races were run and won. The reports feature split and sectional times for winners, split and sectional ranks for winners as well as benchmark figures for both winners and leaders. There are two types of benchmark figure - one that does factor the class of the analysed race into its calculations and one that does.
Benchmarking is the process of converting times into a standardised figure that accounts for prevailing race conditions to provide a means of understanding the relative performance of any past run. The figures are expressed in lengths and the smaller (or more negative) the figure, the better (faster) the performance.
The Punting Form benchmark ratings star on Valentine's Day was Cuanzo, which ran 5.6 lengths faster than the class benchmark in winning the Magic Millions Handicap over 1,200 metres. Cuanzo raced in blinkers for the first time and it would appear to have been a masterstroke by Lou Luciani.
You can download the Punting Form Meeting Report for each of the last three Ascot Racecourse meetings and they will appear in upcoming editions of the club's racebook as well.