Internet Park Racecourse · Content Delivery Course
The Edge Stakes
Group 1 · Class A · 5 Declared Runners · Distance: Global (Unlimited Furlongs)
Saturday, September 28, 2024 · 3:35 PM · Going: Firm (Digital)
Prize: Total CDN Market Share 2024
Going: Firm (High Traffic)
Weather: AI-Driven (Emerging)
Distance: Global Delivery
Age: 3yo+ (Founded 2008+)
Weights: Feature-Adjusted Handicap
1
6/4 F
Cloudflare
11211
by Workers AI out of Free Tier (San Francisco, 2009) · Silks: Orange/White halved · 15yo
Jockey
Workers V8 / AI Gateway
Trainer
Matthew Prince
Weight
310+ PoPs / 228 Tbps
Official Rating
OR 145 (Highest)
Prize Money
$1.43B rev (2024)
Win Rate
~20% of all websites
2024 Racing Record — Key Wins
Workers AI launched — GPU inference at 310+ edge locations with model catalog. AI Gateway for routing, caching, and rate-limiting LLM calls. D1 database GA. Vectorize for embeddings. Hyperdrive for database connection pooling. Forrester TEI study: 238% ROI over 3 years. Turnstile surpassed 45M daily challenges. R2 storage passed 2 years GA with $0 egress. Unmetered DDoS + WAF + Zero Trust (Cloudflare One). Free tier still the most generous in the field.
Racing Correspondent's Tip The clear favourite. Form figures 11211 reflect dominant wins across edge compute, pricing accessibility, and developer experience. The Workers AI launch in 2024 is the season's defining moment — no other runner has native GPU inference at this many locations. The only form blemish (the "2") is media delivery, where Akamai still outruns this horse. Carries top weight (broadest feature set) but has the class to handle it. At 6/4 favourite, the price is short but justified. Selection for the win.
2
5/2
Akamai
11123
by Prolexic out of MIT Heritage (Cambridge MA, 1998) · Silks: Navy/Dark Blue halved · 26yo
Jockey
Kona WAF / Connected Cloud
Trainer
Tom Leighton (co-founder)
Weight
4,100+ nodes / 135 countries
Official Rating
OR 140
Prize Money
~$3.8B rev (2024)
Win Rate
Fortune 500 dominant
2024 Racing Record
Connected Cloud (Linode) expanding — GPU instances, Kubernetes, 12+ core compute regions. Kona WAF remains gold standard (~100% detection). Prolexic DDoS at 20+ Tbps. Adaptive Media Delivery powering major global streaming events. Bot Manager Premier upgraded. EdgeWorkers JS at edge. Enterprise pricing remains custom-only. ISP-embedded network unmatched at carrier level.
Racing Correspondent's Tip The veteran champion — 26 seasons and still competitive at Group 1 level. Form figures 11123 show consistent wins in security and media but fading in edge compute (the "2") and pricing accessibility (the "3"). The Connected Cloud expansion is adding stamina but hasn't yet matched Cloudflare's Workers speed. Carries heavy weight (enterprise complexity) and demands the best ground (big budgets). Each-way selection — will place but may not catch the favourite.
3
8/1
Fastly
13132
by VCL Precision out of Compute@Edge (San Francisco, 2011) · Silks: Red/Black halved · 13yo
Jockey
VCL / Compute@Edge Wasm
Trainer
Todd Nightingale (CEO)
Weight
~80 PoPs / 462 Tbps
Official Rating
OR 132
Prize Money
~$500M rev (2024)
Win Rate
G2: 4.7/5 (highest)
2024 Racing Record
150ms global cache purge — still the fastest in the field by an order of magnitude. Compute@Edge platform maturing with Rust/JS/Go via WebAssembly. Signal Sciences WAF (Gartner Customer's Choice 2024). 100% real-time log streaming. AI-powered API discovery. $188.6M convertible notes maturing March 2026 creates financial pressure. $50/mo minimum — no free tier. ~80 PoPs prioritize capacity-density over geographic breadth.
Racing Correspondent's Tip The specialist sprinter — form figures 13132 show electrifying bursts (the "1"s in purge speed and developer control) but inconsistency in network breadth (the "3"s). The fastest horse in any straight-line dash but lacks the stamina for a full global distance. The convertible notes maturity in 2026 casts a shadow over the stable's long-term finances. An outsider at 8/1 but capable of blazing sectionals that embarrass the rest. Specialist play only.
4
10/1
Bunny.net
12213
by Edge Storage out of Slovenian Dream (Ljubljana, 2012) · Silks: Orange/White halved · 12yo
Jockey
Edge Rules / Optimizer
Trainer
Dejan G. Pelzel (founder)
Weight
114 PoPs / 200+ Tbps
Official Rating
OR 125
Prize Money
$0.01/GB entry fee
Win Rate
Best value in field
2024 Racing Record
$0.01/GB in EU/NA with $1/mo minimum — the most affordable entry in the field. 114 PoPs with 25ms global median latency rivaling much larger stables. Bunny Optimizer (auto WebP/AVIF). Bunny Stream video platform growing. Edge Storage + Perma-Cache. AI-powered WAF launched (free). Magic Containers for serverless compute entering beta. Clean dashboard, fast human support. No major incidents on record.
Racing Correspondent's Tip The people's horse — form figures 12213 show dominant wins in pricing and ease-of-use but trailing in security depth and edge compute maturity. Started from three servers in Slovenia and now runs alongside the thoroughbreds. The AI WAF launch in 2024 adds defensive capability. Still outgunned by Cloudflare's Workers ecosystem and Akamai's enterprise armour. At 10/1, superb each-way value for punters who back the underdog. Won't win the Group 1 but is closing on the leaders every season.
5
7/2
AWS CloudFront
21221
by Lambda@Edge out of S3 Origin (Seattle, 2008) · Silks: Green/Gold halved · 16yo
Jockey
Lambda@Edge / CF Functions
Trainer
Amazon Web Services
Weight
600+ PoPs / AWS backbone
Official Rating
OR 138
Prize Money
Pay-per-GB (1TB free/12mo)
Win Rate
AWS-ecosystem dominant
2024 Racing Record
600+ PoPs with 13 regional edge caches on the AWS backbone. Lambda@Edge + CloudFront Functions for edge compute. Zero egress between AWS services (S3, EC2, Lambda). AWS Shield Standard (free DDoS). AWS WAF available as add-on. HTTP/3 support. Real-time metrics via CloudWatch. Best performance when origin is AWS-hosted — loses advantage entirely outside the ecosystem. Pay-per-GB billing can escalate unpredictably.
Racing Correspondent's Tip The course specialist — form figures 21221 show this horse only truly wins on its home track (AWS ecosystem). The 600+ PoPs give it enormous stamina, and zero internal egress is a unique tactical advantage. But off its preferred going (outside AWS), the performance drops markedly. Lambda@Edge compute is capable but less elegant than Workers. At 7/2, fair price for AWS-native stables. Do not back if your operation runs elsewhere.
Correspondent's Verdict
CLOUDFLARE (1) is the selection. The form is the strongest, the feature set the broadest, and the Workers AI jockey gives it a unique finishing kick no other runner possesses. AKAMAI (2) for the place — the veteran never runs a bad race in enterprise conditions. AWS CLOUDFRONT (5) for the show on its home course. BUNNY.NET (4) is the best each-way value at 10/1 for punters who like backing improvers. FASTLY (3) is the wildcard — capable of the fastest sectional but too inconsistent over the full distance.
All product names are trademarks of their respective owners · Form figures and odds are editorial assessments as of 2024
For informational purposes only · Not professional procurement advice · No actual horses were raced
INTERNET PARK RACECOURSE · THE EDGE STAKES 2024 · GROUP 1 · OFFICIAL RACECARD
🏇 PUBLISHED BY THE JOCKEY CLUB OF INFRASTRUCTURE TECHNOLOGY 🏇