The Paceform Figures Explained
Bet Smarter: How I Use Data to Win
The Paceform Figures form the backbone of my betting strategy, helping me uncover value opportunities and achieve consistent success. By combining precise data with a disciplined, structured approach, I’ve transformed betting into a reliable and profitable system. This page will show you exactly how to leverage these tools and strategies to grow your betting bank and reach your goals.
When I first view the Paceform Figures for a race, my attention is initially drawn to the last-time-out figures of each horse, highlighted by the blue outline. These are the speed figures for each horse's most recent run and allow me to quickly spot horses to focus on, as well as identify which horses are in form based on quick times in relation to the opposition today.
In this example, Blue Lakota (72) and Avalon (73) catch the eye, clear of the rest.
Having identified a couple of horses that stand out based on last-time-out figures, my next question is whether any have conditions to suit based on today’s race. The summary box below the main ratings displays a horse's best Paceform Figure from its entire racing career, broken down by course, distance, going, and weight.
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As we can see from the red outline below, bold numbers in the summary box highlight horses with the best Paceform Figure for that variable, Blue Lakota has a lot in his favour, being top for course, distance, and going, with a 72 for each variable. A minus in any column indicates how far behind the top-rated horse a horse is, and a dash indicates no data for that variable.
For example, Avalon has a dash in the course column, indicating she has never run at Newcastle and therefore has no course form. She has a minus 4 in the distance column, indicating her best figure at today’s distance is 4 behind Blue Lakota (72 - 4 = 68).
Lastly, we can see that Blue Lakota also tops the Paceform Figures overall, highlighted below by the black outline. This section ranks the runners based on their best figure in the last 12 months on the current surface. As this is an all-weather race, all previous runs on the all-weather in the past year contribute, and the best figure achieved is the number assigned to the runner.
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Blue Lakota scores 72 here based on his best figure on the all-weather in the last 12 months, whereas Avalon has a 68, as her 73 was achieved on turf, indicated by a red box, as opposed to the white box for all-weather.
Adding the variables together: Blue Lakota arrives with a strong last-time-out figure, conditions to suit with standout ratings for course, distance, and going, and tops the overall ratings. He’s an obvious pick using the Paceform Figures.
The result was a satisfying one, with Blue Lakota winning easily by over 4 lengths. He was a heavily backed favourite before the off, meaning my early price of 11/8 was outstanding value compared to the 5/6 SP.
Less Obvious Examples
Whilst Blue Lakota was an obvious example of a horse that stood out on the Paceform Figures in every category, there are instances where a horse may not appear as clear-cut at first glance yet still presents a strong betting opportunity.
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Lets Examine this race below which took place on boxing day 2024:
Step 1: As always, my attention is first drawn to the last-time-out Paceform Figures, highlighted by the blue box. Immediately, King’s Code stands out with a figure of 93, which is 9 points clear of the next best, Civil Law, on 84.
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Step 2: I ask myself, does King’s Code have conditions to suit in today’s race? For this my focus is on the Summary Box, which shows a horses lifetime best Paceform Figure broken down by Course, Distance, Going and Weight.
As shown in the red box, Tempus leads for Course, Distance, and Going with a figure of 98. However, King’s Code is second best for course and distance with a figure of 93 (5 points below Tempus), 3rd best on the going (93 again indicated by -5, behind Tempus on 98 and Felix on 96) and best at the weights with a 94. Therefore, although not leading in every category, King's Code is high in the pecking order across all factors, indicating he can replicate his best form under todays conditions. So we move on to a final check.
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The black box shows a horse's best figure on today’s surface (in this case, the all-weather) over the last year. Tempus has a figure of 80 here, indicating the 98's in the red box were not achieved recently. We can be confident Tempus is more likely to run a figure closer to 80 than 98, as the 98 figures were achieved in the distant past.
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Therefore, on recent form, King’s Code is the clear choice upon closer inspection, with only very old figures from Tempus (over a year old) preventing him from topping the Course and Distance categories as well.
It is clear that King’s Code arrives with the best last-time-out figure by far, has consistently high figures across all categories relative to the opposition, and tops the overall ratings for the last year (black box) by 4 points.
It would be a mistake to rule out horses just because they don’t top every category at first glance. On closer inspection, King’s Code was an obvious pick using the Paceform Figures and rewarded my £41 stake with a return of £77.90.