How do judges score the marathon phase and what earns the best results?

The marathon phase is scored through a combination of time and hazard penalties, and the driver who produces the best combination of efficient time through the driving sections and clean, fast navigation through the hazards earns the lowest penalty score for the phase. Time penalties in the road and track sections are earned when the driver exceeds the maximum time allowed for each section or falls below the minimum time on sections that have both upper and lower limits. Driving significantly slower than the optimum pace wastes time and adds penalties, while driving faster than the optimum pace produces no additional benefit once the maximum pace is achieved and simply adds unnecessary physical stress on the horse. Learning to drive at the correct pace for each section requires developing an accurate internal sense of the horse's pace at each required speed. In the hazards, the primary scoring elements are the time taken to navigate through all the required gates in sequence and any penalties incurred for course errors — taking a gate in the wrong sequence, missing a gate, or other rule violations. A driver who selects efficient lines through each gate sequence and maintains a forward, controlled pace throughout the hazard will produce faster hazard times than one who takes wider, less efficient lines or who loses pace through hesitation or horse management difficulties. The judge's role in the hazard is primarily to verify that all gates are taken in the correct sequence and to measure the time from the hazard entry to the hazard exit. There is no subjective quality evaluation in the marathon phase — the scoring is entirely objective, which means thorough preparation and accurate execution of the planned course are the primary determinants of the score.