Sectional Profile is a racecard tab that shows, for every runner in the race, a stride & sectional snapshot taken from their most recent past race of the same type (Turf, All-Weather, Chase, Hurdle or NHF). It brings stride, sectional and draw/pace analysis into a single field-wide comparison — a generalised, every-race version of our Epsom Classics showcase.
The idea: speed = stride length × cadence
A galloping horse’s speed is simply how far it travels with each stride (stride length) multiplied by how many strides it takes each second (cadence). A horse can go faster two ways — by lengthening its stride or by quickening it — and the balance it strikes tells you a great deal about the type of horse you are looking at.
The best gallopers cover the ground with a long, efficient stride and the ability to switch off — settling into a low, even rhythm early so there is energy left to quicken at the finish. Sprinters lean the other way: a faster cadence and a shorter, sharper stride. Neither is “better” in the abstract — what matters is whether a runner’s natural profile fits today’s trip, ground and likely pace.
Reading the figures
- ASL — average stride length (feet). How much ground each stride covers, typically around 22–26ft. It is flattered by fast ground, downhill sections and a steady early gallop, so always read it against the race it came from. A long, sustained stride is associated with class and stamina; a markedly short one often points to a speed type, or a horse under pressure.
- Cad — cadence (strides per second). The rhythm of the gallop, usually around 2.0–2.4. High cadence with a short stride is a speed signature; a lower, even cadence over a longer trip shows a horse that relaxes and conserves — the hallmark of a true stayer.
- Max — peak stride length (feet). The longest single stride the horse reached in the race. A wide gap between Max and ASL means it had another gear in hand when asked.
- FSP% — finishing speed %. How fast the horse finished relative to its own average speed for that race. Above 100% means it actually accelerated late — stamina in reserve and a well-judged ride. Below 100% means it was slowing through the line, which can simply reflect a hard-run race or a stiff climb rather than a flaw.
- Style — likely run-style (Led / Prominent / Held Up), from the horse’s recent sectional history. Draw IV and Tactical then place that style in the context of today’s course, distance and draw (see Draw & Pace below).
Putting it together — what to look for
The figures are at their most powerful in combination. A few patterns worth recognising:
- Long stride, FSP% under 100, still won well — a horse that dominates on raw cruising speed. It often wants to bowl along, and can be vulnerable to a proven closer if the early pace is strong.
- Modest stride, FSP% well over 100, held-up style — a classic closer whose weapon is the finish. It needs a genuine pace to aim at, and a draw or trip that lets it get cover and a clear run.
- High cadence, short stride — a speed type; usually seen to best effect at sharp trips and on tracks that reward early position.
- A stride that lengthens through the race and peaks late (visible in the stride map) — a horse staying on strongly, often value when stepping up in trip.
Two caveats keep the read honest. Every figure is shaped by the ground, the track and how the race was run, so compare like with like — which is exactly why this tab draws each runner’s figures from their last race of the same type. And one run is only a snapshot — the strongest signals are the ones a horse repeats.
The stride map
Tap any runner to expand a furlong-by-furlong chart of its stride length and cadence through that race. The shape is what matters: a stride that holds or lengthens in the closing furlongs (rather than shortening) shows a horse galloping right through the line, while a late drop-off in both lines marks the point at which it emptied. Read it alongside FSP% — the chart shows you where in the race the finishing effort came.
Pace Curves — how today's course & distance is typically run New
Different tracks make races unfold in genuinely different ways. Ascot’s stiff six furlongs grinds finishers down, so speed falls away steadily all the way to the line; Lingfield’s all-weather six is run at a far more even tempo, with the field still travelling close to full speed at the post. The Pace Curves chart shows that signature for today’s course & distance — its par line — and lets you lay other courses, and a runner’s own recent races, over it on one fixed scale.
Reading the chart. The vertical axis is “% of race-average speed”: 100 means a runner travelling at its own average speed for the whole race, above 100 faster than its average, below 100 slower. Because every line is measured the same self-contained way, shapes can be compared directly across courses, going and class — which is the whole point. Curves are anchored at the winning post, so a 5f curve simply occupies the right-hand side of a 6f chart and the closing stages line up. The opening furlong is always excluded: it contains the standing start and tells you nothing about pace shape.
What the par line is. The median (middle value) section-by-section of horses that finished in the first three, in truly-run races only — races whose winner ran at least to the speed figure expected for the class, filtering out the crawl-and-sprint tactical affairs that would distort the picture. The shaded band around it is the middle 50% of those races, and the Winning line toggle adds the winners-only version — how the horses that actually win here tend to distribute their effort.
The badges keep it honest. Every par line shows the number of races behind it. The line loads at today’s going and class first; when that exact combination is too thin to trust we widen the filters step by step and say so — class widened, going widened, all going blended (that one does mix soft-ground shape in), and small sample when even the widened line is built on few races. Fast and Good ground produce near-identical shapes, so merging those costs almost nothing; genuinely soft ground steepens the late fade and is never quietly blended in.
Using it. Two natural moves. First, compare another C&D: if a speedy sort keeps getting found out on a stiff finish, add a flatter track’s par and you can see at a glance the shape it would rather be racing to. Second, overlay a runner: pick one from today’s field and tick any of its recent same-code runs — a horse whose lines keep tracking today’s par is doing here exactly what the track asks; one that only holds its speed on flat-tempo curves is telling you something too. Two controls widen that read: More runs extends the list from the 6 most recent runs to 12, and Ran well only keeps just the runs where the horse beat at least half the field — a poor run tells you little about how a horse likes to travel, and filtering them out also reaches further back through the form to find the good ones.
One caveat keeps the read honest: shape fit is a lens, not a verdict. A horse can match today’s curve stride-for-stride and still be outclassed, and a falsely-run race can make any horse’s line look strange. Read it alongside class, form and the rest of the tab.
Course stride fingerprint New
Tracks don’t just shape pace — they shape movement. An uphill finish shortens strides; a flat, galloping all-weather surface lets horses stretch out. The fingerprint chart shows the typical stride-length range recorded at this course over these trips (the shaded band — average plus/minus one standard deviation, from truly-run races), with each of today’s runners plotted on it by their own career average stride. Hollow dots mean fewer than four measured runs — too little to weigh confidently.
A runner sitting well outside the band has an action quite unlike the typical stride here — worth a second look in either direction. And when you add a Compare another C&D line in the Pace Curves above, that course’s typical stride range appears on the fingerprint too (in teal, labelled with the course), so you can see at a glance where the comparison course moves differently from today’s — a track whose band sits clearly longer or shorter than today’s is asking for a different action. As with all stride data, treat it as a suitability guide alongside the pace curves, not a standalone predictor: it describes how a horse and a track move, and our own testing shows raw stride figures carry no betting edge on their own.
Draw & Pace in the tab
The same analysis from the dedicated Draw & Pace tab is summarised at the top of Sectional Profile: the likely race pace, the course’s favoured draw and running style (its “Course DNA”), and a per-runner Draw IV and Tactical score. A gold-ringed draw is one sitting in a historically winning draw-and-pace sweet spot for this course and distance.
Column reference
- Last same-type race – the race the figures are taken from (name, course, date, finishing position).
- ASL ft · Cad · Max · FSP% – the stride & sectional figures explained above.
- RM – the horse’s current RaceMetrics rating.
- Style · Draw IV · Tactical – run-style and tactical context (gold = best in race; Draw IV of 1.00 = neutral).
Tap any column heading to sort the field by it. On phones the table keeps the headline columns — rotate to landscape, or use a larger screen, for the full set.
Access
- Available with a Proform Premium subscription plus the Sectionals add-on.
- Open any racecard and choose the Sectional Profile tab. Without the add-on you'll see a preview and an upgrade prompt.
- This feature is in Beta — use the Share feedback button in the tab to tell us what you'd like to see.
Note on coverage: a runner only appears with figures if it has run a race of the same type that carries sectional data. First-time-over-a-discipline runners, and older form from before full sectional coverage, show “No same-type sectional run yet”. Sectional & stride coverage now spans every UK racecourse.