You Need to Balance your SPEED
It seems like the craziest notion in the world – being too fast in a barrel racing run but as an intervaltiming.com rep we see it all the time.
If you don’t look at an interval report, the odds of you knowing where you are clocking is slim. Our human eyes can deceive us, even during slow motion replays. We trick ourselves into thinking what looks good perception wise, is clocking well, when often it is the opposite.
The girl who runs the fastest from the timer line to the first barrel will most certainly have one of the worst first barrel turns of anyone at the race. Likewise, the girl who turns the tightest or fastest 2nd barrel will have one of the worst splits in between 2nd & 3rd barrel.
How do we know? We have the stats to prove it. 30,000 runs recorded on intervaltiming.com reports annually don’t lie.
One of the most common misconceptions when looking at Interval Split reports is a riders desire to compare themselves to the fastest individual splits versus completed runs. Riders want to see who the fastest rider was from the timer line to the first barrel and compare themselves to that time, but you are setting yourself up to fail if you use that mark to figure out what you need to be clocking in the intervals.
To clock with the top horses, you need to look at their run as a whole and see how they balance their speed. They are very rarely (less than 1% of the time) the fastest individual splits, but they have balanced their speed to have the best overall run.
Intervaltiming.com reports compare you to Top 5 Average and Top 5 Runs because it is really important to see how within the top 5, there are areas where the 5th place horse will be faster than the 1st place horse. By averaging those top times we give you the best idea where you are balancing your speed and where your run might be unbalanced.
Here are some very cool stats from the 2015 BRN4D Finals. This may be one race, but this holds true at every race:
These are the fastest runs of the weekend on individual horse and rider combinations. It was a full standard pattern (60x90x105)
As you can see, the pace was blistering fast with a 16.879 being the average time of the top 5 runs. The world record is a 16.691.
Fastest Run | 1st Barrel Combined Intervals | 2nd Barrel Combined Intervals | 3rd Barrel Combined Intervals | Running Time |
Time in Straights | Time in Turns | |||||||||
Kathy Grimes/FF – KG JusticeWeExpected (PESI) Monday GO 1 | Timer to 1st Barrel | Around Barrel 1 | Between 1st & 2nd | Total | Between 1st & 2nd | Around Barrel 2 | Between 2nd & 3rd | Total | Between 2nd & 3rd | Around Barrel 3 | Barrel 3 to Timer | Total | |||
1.929 | 1.685 | 2.582 | 6.196 | 2.582 | 1.646 | 3.316 | 7.544 | 3.316 | 1.659 | 3.889 | 8.864 | 16.706 | 11.716 | 4.990 | |
Difference | 0.369 | 0.059 | 0.292 | -0.717 | 0.292 | 0.227 | 0.394 | -2.379 | 0.394 | 1.415 | -0.075 | -0.121 | 2.680 | 0.980 | 1.701 |
2nd Place | 1st Barrel Combined Intervals | 2nd Barrel Combined Intervals | 3rd Barrel Combined Intervals | Running Time |
Time in Straights | Time in Turns | |||||||||
Lea Orsburn/Dance N Spin A Lena SLOT GO 1 | Timer to 1st Barrel | Around Barrel 1 | Between 1st & 2nd | Total | Between 1st & 2nd | Around Barrel 2 | Between 2nd & 3rd | Total | Between 2nd & 3rd | Around Barrel 3 | Barrel 3 to Timer | Total | |||
1.886 | 1.538 | 2.763 | 6.187 | 2.763 | 1.685 | 3.259 | 7.707 | 3.259 | 1.494 | 4.130 | 8.883 | 16.756 | 12.038 | 4.717 | |
Difference | 0.412 | 0.206 | 0.111 | -0.708 | 0.111 | 0.188 | 0.451 | -2.542 | 0.451 | 1.580 | -0.316 | -0.140 | 2.630 | 0.658 | 1.974 |
3rd Place | 1st Barrel Combined Intervals | 2nd Barrel Combined Intervals | 3rd Barrel Combined Intervals | Running Time |
Time in Straights | Time in Turns | |||||||||
Kelsie Miller/Bridle Bit Riley OPEN GO 3 | Timer to 1st Barrel | Around Barrel 1 | Between 1st & 2nd | Total | Between 1st & 2nd | Around Barrel 2 | Between 2nd & 3rd | Total | Between 2nd & 3rd | Around Barrel 3 | Barrel 3 to Timer | Total | |||
1.912 | 1.654 | 2.712 | 6.278 | 2.712 | 1.614 | 3.384 | 7.710 | 3.384 | 1.348 | 4.316 | 9.048 | 16.938 | 12.324 | 4.616 | |
Difference | 0.386 | 0.090 | 0.162 | -0.799 | 0.162 | 0.259 | 0.326 | -2.545 | 0.326 | 1.726 | -0.502 | -0.305 | 2.448 | 0.372 | 2.075 |
4th Place | 1st Barrel Combined Intervals | 2nd Barrel Combined Intervals | 3rd Barrel Combined Intervals | Running Time |
Time in Straights | Time in Turns | |||||||||
Kelli Barichello/Dats Last Frenchman Monday GO 1 | Timer to 1st Barrel | Around Barrel 1 | Between 1st & 2nd | Total | Between 1st & 2nd | Around Barrel 2 | Between 2nd & 3rd | Total | Between 2nd & 3rd | Around Barrel 3 | Barrel 3 to Timer | Total | |||
1.861 | 1.646 | 2.763 | 6.270 | 2.763 | 1.730 | 3.391 | 7.884 | 3.391 | 1.560 | 4.019 | 8.970 | 16.970 | 12.034 | 4.936 | |
Difference | 0.437 | 0.098 | 0.111 | -0.791 | 0.111 | 0.143 | 0.319 | -2.719 | 0.319 | 1.514 | -0.205 | -0.227 | 2.416 | 0.662 | 1.755 |
5th Place | 1st Barrel Combined Intervals | 2nd Barrel Combined Intervals | 3rd Barrel Combined Intervals | Running Time |
Time in Straights | Time in Turns | |||||||||
Melissa Roll/THR Watch Me Perk “Cozmo” OPEN GO 2 | Timer to 1st Barrel | Around Barrel 1 | Between 1st & 2nd | Total | Between 1st & 2nd | Around Barrel 2 | Between 2nd & 3rd | Total | Between 2nd & 3rd | Around Barrel 3 | Barrel 3 to Timer | Total | |||
2.014 | 1.626 | 2.692 | 6.332 | 2.692 | 1.516 | 3.523 | 7.731 | 3.523 | 1.649 | 4.004 | 9.176 | 17.024 | 12.233 | 4.791 | |
Difference | 0.284 | 0.118 | 0.182 | -0.853 | 0.182 | 0.357 | 0.187 | -2.566 | 0.187 | 1.425 | -0.190 | -0.433 | 2.362 | 0.463 | 1.900 |
Top 5 Average | Timer to 1st Barrel | Around Barrel 1 | Between 1st & 2nd | Total | Between 1st & 2nd | Around Barrel 2 | Between 2nd & 3rd | Total | Between 2nd & 3rd | Around Barrel 3 | Barrel 3 to Timer | Total | Time | Time in Straights | Time in Turns |
1.920 | 1.630 | 2.702 | 6.253 | 2.702 | 1.638 | 3.375 | 7.715 | 3.375 | 1.542 | 4.072 | 8.988 | 16.879 | 12.069 | 4.810 |
Now we will show you why comparing yourself to the fastest individual splits is setting you up to fail.
Here are the fastest splits from the weekend runs.
Timer to 1st Barrel | 1.221 | Around Barrel 1 | 1.391 | Between 1st & 2nd | 2.392 | Around Barrel 2 | 1.271 | Between 2nd & 3rd | 2.977 | Around Barrel 3 | 1.286 | Barrel 3 to Timer | 3.814 |
Jodie Bailey/VF Power Stone OPEN GO 2-17.697 | Rachel Crites/Hails Miss Millie OPEN GO 3-17.935 | Angie Finley/Quiet Blues Music “Tater” Monday GO 1-18.122 | Jennifer Ballard/Custom Baquera OPEN GO 3-18.132 | Melody Payne/Shesa Tru Commander OPEN GO 1-18.118 | Gary Trottier/Naturally Ima Stetson OPEN GO 2-17.899 | Brittney Pratt/Bogies Proud Boogie Monday GO 1-19.386 |
When we look at our top 5 horses, the Top 5 average time from the Timer to 1st barrel is a 1.920 and the fastest split was Jodie with a 1.221 interval split time.
If you don’t look at the whole picture you might think “Wow I need to be a 1.221 to be the fastest from the Timer to the 1st barrel”
What you don’t see when you look at this fragment is that the same horse had one of the worst 1st barrel turns out of over 1000 runs at this race. When you look at her splits like a story, she might have gained 0.699 in the straight but she gave up 0.981 in the 1st barrel turn for total lost time of 0.282.
Jodie Bailey/VF Power Stone OPEN GO 2 | 1st Barrel Combined Intervals | ||||||
Timer to 1st Barrel | Around Barrel 1 | Between 1st & 2nd | Total | ||||
1.221 | 2.611 | 2.722 | 6.554 | ||||
Top 5 Average | Timer to 1st Barrel | Around Barrel 1 | Between 1st & 2nd | Total | |||
1.920 | 1.630 | 2.702 | 6.252 | ||||
Here is the fastest first barrel interval. As you can see Rachel was tighter than tight with a 1.391 second turn, the Top 5 average was a 1.630. When you look at the whole picture though, she gave up 0.299 in the straight before the turn and 0.366 in the straight after the turn for combined lost time of 0.426
Overtight or seemingly quick barrel turns usually translate into a two-fold loss on the clock as people loose time coming into the turn AND leaving it, costing you time on the clock twice.
Rachel Crites/Hails Miss Millie OPEN GO 3 | 1st Barrel Combined Intervals | ||||||
Timer to 1st Barrel | Around Barrel 1 | Between 1st & 2nd | Total | ||||
2.219 | 1.391 | 3.068 | 6.678 | ||||
Top 5 Average | Timer to 1st Barrel | Around Barrel 1 | Between 1st & 2nd | Total | |||
1.920 | 1.630 | 2.702 | 6.252 | ||||
It seems a crazy notion to tell a barrel racer to slow down, but there is such a thing as too much speed in the straight if you blow the turn. Our fastest horse in between 1st & 2nd is a perfect example of this.
You can see that Angie was a rapid 2.392 between 1st and 2nd barrels and the Top 5 average was a 2.702. This gained Angie 0.310 on the clock, however she gave that all back two-fold in the turn because the Top 5 was 1.638 and Angie was 2.223 losing her 0.310 plus another 0.275 for a grand total loss of 0.510 (half a second)
Sometimes as barrel racers we aren’t clocking so we try and go faster but in Angie’s situation if she applies this theory, her times are probably just going to get worse because she has speed to burn, she needs to slow down a little.
Angie Finley/Quiet Blues Music “Tater” Monday GO 1 | 2nd Barrel Combined Intervals | |||||||
Between 1st & 2nd | Around Barrel 2 | Total | ||||||
2.392 | 2.223 | 4.615 | ||||||
Top 5 Average | Between 1st & 2nd | Around Barrel 2 | Total | |||||
2.702 | 1.638 | 4.340 | ||||||
Here are the rest of the fastest splits compared to the Top 5 horses and you can see how proven the “too fast” formulas is:
2nd Barrel Fastest Turn:
Gained 0.367 in the turn, lost 0.812 in the straight coming into the turn and leaving resulting in 0.445 time lost
Jennifer Ballard/Custom Baquera OPEN GO 3 | 2nd Barrel Combined Intervals | ||||||||
Between 1st & 2nd | Around Barrel 2 | Between 2nd & 3rd | Total | ||||||
2.916 | 1.271 | 3.973 | 8.160 | ||||||
Top 5 Average | Between 1st & 2nd | Around Barrel 2 | Between 2nd & 3rd | Total | |||||
2.702 | 1.638 | 3.375 | 7.715 | ||||||
Fastest horse in between 2nd & 3rd Barrel:
Gained 0.398 in the straight, lost 0.724 in the turn resulting in 0.326 time lost
Melody Payne/Shesa Tru Commander OPEN GO 1 | 3rd Barrel Combined Intervals | |||||||
Between 2nd & 3rd | Around Barrel 3 | Total | ||||||
2.977 | 2.266 | 5.243 | ||||||
Top 5 Average | Between 2nd & 3rd | Around Barrel 3 | Total | |||||
3.375 | 1.542 | 4.917 | ||||||
Fastest 3rd Barrel Turn:
Gained 0.256 in the turn, lost 0.724 in the straights resulting in 0.468 time lost
Gary Trottier/Naturally Ima Stetson OPEN GO 2 | 3rd Barrel Combined Intervals | ||||||||
Between 2nd & 3rd | Around Barrel 3 | Barrel 3 to Timer | Total | ||||||
3.715 | 1.286 | 4.456 | 9.457 | ||||||
Top 5 Average | Between 2nd & 3rd | Around Barrel 3 | Barrel 3 to Timer | Total | |||||
3.375 | 1.542 | 4.072 | 8.989 | ||||||
Fastest Run home:
Gained 0.258 on the run home, lost 1.532 seconds in the turn resulting in 1.274 time lost.
Brittney Pratt/Bogies Proud Boogie Monday GO 1 | 3rd Barrel | |||||||
Around Barrel 3 | Barrel 3 to Timer | Total | ||||||
3.074 | 3.814 | 6.888 | ||||||
Top 5 Average | Around Barrel 3 | Barrel 3 to Timer | Total | |||||
1.542 | 4.072 | 5.614 | ||||||
This is just one race but we capture thousands of runs annually that tell the same story. An interval report truly is the only way to know where you are and are not clocking, the human eye cannot register what the electric eye can in thousands of a second and this is why is it critical to capitalize on this leading edge technology to find balance in your horses’ unique strengths and weaknesses.