Even with 2 good skills, food feeding and smart playing trust me it's not a guaranteed win against higher tier NPCs. By the looks of it, you haven't reached R240-260 where I've seen NPCs consistently finish sagolii under 88-85 seconds. You are bound to have some real fun dealing with those with skills such as choco reflect, frenzy resist or dressage.

R60-R80-R100? Yes, I've been there too, can't even remember which was my longest win strike, but probably around 20-25 wins without losing once. Hell, my last G9 chocobo with just head start didn't lose a single race until level 10, at that point I was already dealing with R120...and the problems start from R140 onwards, where NPCs seem to start outscaling your stats by a wide margin and your only chance is playing far smarter than them and have some luck. Even with 380 Max speed, NPCs from R220-240 make fun of you.