In thoroughbred racing, what does it mean if a horse has a high "Pace rating"?

Question

Does it mean he sets the pace, comes from off the pace? Are they better on longer or shorter races?

Answer 1

any horse that maintains his pace or increases his pace as the race runs has a high pace rating. Secretariat ran each quarter faster than the last, he had a great pace rating. horses that finish the last quarter of a race faster than the 1st quarter of the race are really moving...street sense is that type of horse, just got a bad ride in the Preakness, BO-rail could not walk my dog, none the less ride a super star horse.

Answer 2

Usually a low pace rating means the horse tends to be close to the front, while high pace ratings indicate he lags behind early.  BUT (big but) it depends on the system you are using.  Sometimes it can be the opposite.  Whatever source you are using for your pace figs should have an explanatory page (either in a magazine or newspaper or on their website, etc.).  

Pace figs won't tell you the distance preference for a horse.  Some horses have a very high cruising speed and are very effective even going a distance of ground.  Other horses have no speed from the gate but can explode in the stretch of a sprint.  You need to observe the type of races the horse achieved their pace figs in to determine their distance ability.

Answer 3

Pace ratings and figures are based on how fast a horse ran in the early stages of a race, the same way that speed figures are based on the horses final time for the race. They can vary from race to race though most horses are fairly consistent in the pace figures they earn. Front-runners tend to earn high pace figures in most of their races while closers tend to earn lower pace figures.

They are indicators of a horse's running style but not good indicators of a horse's distance preference since there are front-runners and closers in both sprint and route races.

The only exception is when a horse who earns low pace figures in route races shortens up to a sprint. They tend to do very poorly since a horse who cannot keep up to the slow pace of the route will be left hopelessly far behind in the hot pace of a sprint.