Sectional times in horse racing explained

What is a sectional time?

A sectional time is the time a horse takes to run one part of a race, such as a single furlong or the final three furlongs. Added together, a horse's sectionals make up its finishing time.

The final time of a race tells you how long the winner took from start to finish, but not how the time was made. Two races can finish in the same time: one with a blistering early pace and a slow finish, the other with a crawl followed by a sprint. Sectionals separate the two, which is why professional form students treat them as essential.

Traditionally sectionals were taken only for the leader at fixed points, so the times of horses further back had to be estimated from the beaten distances. Modern tracking times every runner through every section, which means a horse's own sectionals can be compared with its previous runs and with the rest of the field.

How do furlong splits add to the finishing time?

Each furlong split is the time taken to cover 220 yards. A horse running every furlong in 12 seconds would complete a mile in 96 seconds, and faster or slower splits show where it gained or lost ground.

Splits are rarely even. The first furlong is slower because horses start from a standstill, the middle furlongs settle into a rhythm and the final furlongs show who quickened and who tired. Converting splits into speed makes them easier to compare: 11 seconds a furlong is about 40.9 miles per hour, 12 seconds is about 37.5 and 13 seconds is about 34.6.

How does tracking tracking time every runner?

Each runner carries a small tracking tag in its saddle cloth that records its position several times a second. The positions are turned into sectional times, speed, stride data and the distance each horse covered.

Older timing methods mostly followed only the leader. Because every horse is tracked, a sectional is available for the horse that finished eighth as well as the winner, and the distance it covered shows whether it raced wide. RaceWatch holds Sectional data for the British courses in its feed from January 2025; Irish racing is not covered.

How do you read a fast-early and a slow-early race?

In a fast-early race the early sectionals are quick and the late ones slow down as the leaders tire; in a slow-early race the early sectionals are slow and the final furlongs are the quickest of the race.

The shape of the sectionals tells you which horses the race suited. A fast-early race suits hold-up horses and stayers, because the leaders pay for their effort. A slow-early race suits horses that were handy and have a turn of foot, because closers have too much to do. Always judge a performance against the shape of the race it came from.

Most races sit somewhere between the two extremes. A useful habit is to compare the final two or three furlongs with the average for the whole race: if the finish was much quicker, the early pace was steady; if it was much slower, the early pace was strong. The finishing speed percentage turns that comparison into a single number.

How can sectionals show a horse ran better than its finishing position?

Look for a horse that ran the fastest closing furlongs from far back in a slowly run race, or one that tired late after leading a fast early pace. Either can be better than its finishing position shows.

Sectionals turn race comments into numbers. A horse noted as running on late might have recorded the quickest final two furlongs in the race, which is a stronger signal than the comment alone. A beaten favourite that led at a pace far quicker than the rest has an excuse the result does not show.

• Fastest closing sectional from off the pace
• Tired late after setting a strong early pace
• Covered much more ground than the winner
• Quickened well in a race that did not suit
• Early pace too slow for its run style

Which British and Irish courses have sectional timing?

Every British racecourse now has tracking tracking that times every runner, and RaceWatch holds sectionals for the British courses in its feed from January 2025. Irish races are not included in RaceWatch sectional data.

RaceWatch coverage grows as each new meeting in its feed is added, so the number of horses with sectional data rises every week. For Irish races and older British form, finishing time and race comments remain the main evidence, read alongside the pace of the race.

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