Time is often brought up when new users arrive at Zed Run, and the question is always, “how important is it?” I am not a data guy, but I do not need to be one to see that class I is not faster than class V. Which makes time a fickle subject, because it is difficult to know exactly where it’s importance lies.

Average Times
It would naturally be presumed that the best horses in class I are faster than the horses that compete in class V. However, this is not the case. The average racing times across distance are roughly the same across classes. If class I is not faster than class V, how do we determine a value from time. Also, what does that mean for a game of racing?

Fastest Horses
To make things more confusing, it easy to notice that the fastest times come from horses with the best odds or lineage. This makes time a valuable performance metric when associated with the fastest time in the game. These fastest times are almost always connected to some of the best odds performing horses. Also, horses such as Atar! has incredible times, and this may be possible because he is inbred with one of the best horses in the game; Breathless Edge.

Win Time Delta
Another valuable measurement of time is the win time delta. This delta is how large a gap a horse wins by compared to second place. For example, does a horse beat second place by 1 second? or, 5 seconds? The larger the delta of time between first and second place will help show a horses preferred distance. Make sure to keep an eye on the distances your horses dominate the competition.

Conclusions
Time is fickle in Zed Run, because we aren’t quite sure to make of a game where the best horses aren’t faster on average when we are racing. There is something to be said about holding fast times and dominating the competition, but there will be more to discover in the future.
Visit our about page to learn more the team, check out top articles, and download our racetrack performance tracking template. Good luck on the on the track, Zed Heads! Please leave any questions in the comments below! Any additional information will be on the Zed Community site!