Racing Times Australia – Horse Racing Par Time Database
Where traditional handicapping meets modern time analysis
Racing Times Australia is built on a horse racing par time database that helps punters create their own markets, speed ratings, weights and class analysis, gear impacts, and speed maps.
By Craig Lewis — Racing Analyst & Author
Amazon Australia Pricing:
$82.50 or $20.63 /payment at 0% (Pay in 4)
(includes delivery)
About the book
Racing Times Australia gives casual punters a clear path through the long‑running debate between traditional class-and-weights analysis and modern speed ratings. It shows that both methods work best together, not in opposition.
The book blends familiar Australian form analysis with contemporary time‑based approaches and introduces the GFTT — a full horse racing par time database from 800m to 3200m, measured in ten‑metre increments and calibrated to track condition.
Because horses fatigue differently on Heavy versus firmer surfaces, the weight‑to‑beaten‑margin scale should shift with distance and with track deterioration. Racing Times Australia updates this scale to reflect real surface impact and gives punters a practical tool for comparing varied formlines.
Both styles are intertwined by one major concept: Understanding Velocity — the bridge that connects time and traditional handicapping.
Printed in Australia for fast delivery, using Amazon Australia’s premium colour format to provide a larger, easy‑to‑read layout.
Horse Racing Par Time Database
Table of Contents
Disclaimer … iii
Preface … iv
Introduction … v
How to Use This Book … vi
Chapter 1 — Budget and Staking … 1
Chapter 2 — Formguides and System Building … 11
Chapter 3 — Video Analysis … 19
Chapter 4 — Benchmark Programming & Handicapping … 27
Chapter 5 — Pace Maps … 35
Chapter 6 — Speed Ratings vs Weights & Class Analysis … 41
Chapter 7 — Generic Flat Turf Time … 53
Chapter 8 — Race Preview and Review … 65
Chapter 9 — Tissue Markets … 77
Chapter 10 — Past – Present – Future … 89
Chapter 11 — Racing Gear Reference Guide … 95
Chapter 12 — Picargo … 105
Conclusion … 109
About the Author … 111
Good 3 GFTT … 112
Good 4 GFTT … 118
Soft 5 GFTT … 124
Soft 6 GFTT … 130
Soft 7 GFTT … 136
Heavy 8 GFTT … 142
Heavy 9 GFTT … 148
Heavy 10 GFTT … 154
Is This Book For You
Racing Times Australia is written for a broad section of the Australian racing public in mind. The book starts off gently before building into the complex work that serious form students may be interested in.
This is intended as a one-stop book to follow through your form reading journey. Rather than writing a book for beginners, another for the semi-serious student, and another for accomplished form analysts – Racing Times Australia offers a clear path throughout.
Part of the fun of racing is feeling the confidence to be involved in conversations around the races and talking about our selections for the weekend. Racing talk can move so fast it is easy to feel that we should all just understand things nobody has explained. Racing Times Australia breaks down the vernacular and terminologies to give confidence for people entering the sport.
You’ll learn bankroll discipline, unit staking, how to read long‑form properly, and how modern Benchmark handicapping fits into today’s racing. The book explains known form references, race structure, weight, class, track nuances, and how par times can help you judge performances while removing some of the guesswork.
For those who want to go further, it outlines a structured workflow for race previews, post‑meeting reviews, Blackbookers, and form depth analysis. You’ll also see how odds are built and how to think about value.
The value in Racing Times Australia will be in how deep the reader wants to go. There is certainly value in keeping the GFTT par time database handy while reading the form. This takes the guess work out of knowing what a reasonable time for a race is, including the last 600m sectional over any given distance or track surface up to 3200m.
The broad par time database also means we can make better judgements by comparing separate races on a weight-per-time scale. Whether you want to go deeply into this, the book allows. Should you just want to eyeball if a horse drops enough weight to competitive, you can – just keep the book handy while reading the formguide.
What Racing Times Australia Does Not Do is generate numerical ratings for a horse vs horse comparison.
That will be over to the reader. Racing Times Australia presents the tools in both an analytical and satirical manner through story telling while urging readers to think critically about the way the work their own form and stake their own bets.
Author Biography
I’ve followed Australian racing for decades — long enough to see trends come and go, and long enough to know when something in the industry suddenly shifts without explanation.
Over the past few years, I kept hearing a new vernacular creep into mainstream racing commentary: “lengths to benchmark,” “they ran slower than average,” “faster than standard.”
It seemed to appear out of nowhere. No context. No explanation. No guidance for everyday punters. Just a new language that analysts started using as if everyone already understood it.
As a long‑time racing fan and form analyst, I found myself thinking: Where did this come from? What does it actually mean? And why is nobody explaining it? For younger punters, this “new speak” felt exclusive — a message that said, don’t bother learning times, just listen to us tell you how the race compared to average.
For older punters like myself, it was alienating. Many switched off entirely, wondering what on earth the analysts were talking about and where they got this jargon.
The truth is simple: par, standard, or average times don’t exist in a racebook. They come from paid subscription databases, each with their own methods, their own benchmarks, and their own interpretations. Yet the media began treating these numbers as universal truths.
That frustration — and the lack of clear, inclusive explanation — is exactly why Racing Times Australia needed to be written. I wanted to build something that everyday punters could actually use at home. Something that demystified the jargon. Something that made time analysis accessible rather than exclusive.
That’s how the Generic Flat Turf Time (GFTT) database came into existence: a practical, transparent benchmark tool designed for the wider racing community, not just insiders. And here’s the important part: Despite my early scepticism around time analysis, I’ve come to appreciate its value.
But I don’t advocate for modern speed ratings over traditional weights and class. I believe — strongly — that both methods are at their sharpest when they work together.
My goal has always been the same: To help punters understand racing in a way that feels clear, practical, and inclusive. To bridge the gap between old-school analysis and modern metrics. And to make sure no one feels left out of the conversation.
That’s the spirit behind Racing Times Australia — and the same spirit I bring to every post, every discussion, and every piece of analysis I share.
Author, Craig Lewis
Contact
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I will reply as soon as I can.