TCR Innovation

For those of you who arent aware the TCR (Thoroughbred Championship Rankings) is one of the major features of this site. It is a point system that quantifies the on track accomplishments of horses over the course of the year. At the end of the season we use the TCR in association with fan votes to determine the champions for each division. Voting for the current TCR Awards is going on right now and I'd encourage each of you to cast a ballot. You can do so by following this link.

The TCR is essentially a horses past performances boiled down to a single number, sort of like how a Beyer Speed Figure attempts to quantify the final times of various races. The real beauty of a points system is that it allows us to have a pro-tem standings like other sports do. If, on the 1st of August, someone wanted to know who the top ranked Turf horse was they could easily consult the rankings and get a picture of who the major players are.

One of the unique specialities of the TCR is that points are scaled in such a way that certain divisions are not given an unfair advantage. With most systems you'll find fillies and mares score very highly because there are a ton of restricted G-1's that they can win without facing the top quality that older horses face.

Now for the first time ever you can access the full standings from the current year all the way back to 1999. The top 3 horses from each division will still be posted on the sidebar but the link at the botton that reads "Full Standings (2007-1999)" will give you a look at the complete current and historical rankings, as well as a breakdown of how the points are calculated.