[For The Lead]

Here is what everyone should understand.

1 - TURN TIME is the second fraction
2 - the ONLY DISTANCE...I say again, the ONLY DISTANCE with a true turn time is 5.5 furlongs, since it is truly run on a turn.

Take for an example a 7 furlong race. The second fraction is run on the straight away...hardly a "turn" time.

The best thing everyone can do is get a track layout of a 1 mile oval. Locate the start of each distance and then locate the points of call, i.e. first call, second call, stretch call and finish. When you see where the second fraction is located you will see for yourself exactly where the second fraction or "turn time" is actually being run.

Once you have satisfied yourself that you understand where the turn time takes place, the next thing to understand is how using different distances affects the turn time readout you see.
Obviously, the fastest turn time in sprint races comes at 7 furlongs, since the turn time (second fraction) is run on a straight. The next fastest turn time will be at 6.5 furlongs and so on. This is true since horses run faster on a straight than they do on a turn. Therefore, the slowest turn times will happen at 5.5 furlongs, where the second fraction is run completely "on the turn".

Notice in Bill V's example (above) the two horses ranked "WORST" on turn time are the two horses with 5.5 furlong lines. This is because they have a "true" turn time, whereas the other horses coming out of 6 furlong races did NOT run their second fractions "completely on a turn", therefore their turn times will be faster.

Naturally, the second fraction is a part of the second call time and therefore will have an affect on second call rankings based on the distance of the lines used.

Obviously, the only way to get a true comparison is to use the same distance for each line for each horse. Sometimes this is hard to do.