HANDICAPPING TIPS
HANDICAPPING HONEST PACE RACES
In our October 1996 newsletter, we introduced the concept of categorizing races to be run into four different Race Pace Shapes. (If you do not have this newsletter, contact us and we will send it to you.) Three of these Pace Shapes, namely FAST EARLY, LONE EARLY and SLOW, lend themselves very nicely to pace oriented handicapping decisions.
Good closers often win FAST EARLY races. A LONE EARLY horse often runs away from the field. Late runners with the best early pace ratings often run away from the field in SLOW races.
This brings us to the fourth Race Pace Shape, namely HONEST races. These races are designated by Millennium software as “E-EP” or “EP-EP” races. “E-EP” races have one horse with an “E” running style and one or more horses with an “EP” running style. “EP-EP” races have no “E” runners and two or more horses with an “EP” running style. These are called HONEST Pace races because the pace match-up will not cause either a fast or slow pace to the second call.
Here are some important points to keep in mind about HONEST Pace races:
• The majority of races have a HONEST Pace Shape.
• “E” and “EP” runners generally have a slight edge, particularly in sprints. Honest Pace Shape races can be significantly influenced by a strong track bias.
• HONEST Pace races are the toughest races to handicap .... at least to handicap profitably. A significant percentage of HONEST Pace races should not be bet. They should be passed.
WOW! HONEST Pace races make up the majority of races, they are difficult to handicap and a substantial percentage of them should be passed. So why bother? Well, FAST EARLY, LONE EARLY and SLOW Pace races will present you with some very nice high paying horses. But, in our opinion, a key to consistent and long term profitable play is to learn how to handicap and play, or pass, HONEST Pace races. We are going to show you our favorite way of handicapping these races. We call it The Opposing Pace Gap Method.
The Opposing Pace Gap Method for playing HONEST Pace races
This method is simple and very fast to use. If it seems a little too simplistic to you as we explain the method, stick with it. It really is very effective.
Start by drawing two columns on a piece of paper. We usually do this either on the right side of the Contender Summary Report or on the bottom of the Paceline Report. One column is for early running horses (“E” and “EP” horses) and the other column is for late running horses (“P” and “S” horses).
Let’s first work on the early running horses. Write down the name of the best early running horse (say Horse “A”). It will generally be the early running horse rated the highest by Millennium software. Next write down the name of the next best early running horse (say Horse “B”). If these first two horses are very close in ability and you have a hard time choosing one or the other as your top pick, then write Horse B’s name directly under Horse A and go on and look for the third best early running horse (say Horse “C”). However, if Horse A is clearly superior to Horse B or is clearly better suited to the match-up of today’s race, then leave a blank line under Horse A before writing Horse B’s name down. This blank line is the Gap. The key here is to keep writing down the early running horses directly under each other until you identify a gap before the next horse. Then, if there are any early horses remaining, you write down the next horse after the Gap and move on to late running horses.
Now, just repeat the process for late running horses. Keep writing down late running horses until you identify the gap before the next horse. Then write down the next horse after the Gap.
There will be times when the early running horses are just plain not going to figure in the race at all. In this case, put the Gap at the top of the list and put the best early horse after the Gap. The same situation can also apply to the late running horses. However, it will not happen to both early and late running horses in the same race.
Of course, Millennium software will make this process pretty easy because it will identify the best horses and it will show you each horse’s running style.
Now, we are going to look at some examples. Before we do, however, it is important to understand the concept behind this approach. First and foremost, this is not intended to be a mechanical system of play. Instead, it is intended to be a method of organizing your thoughts when confronted with the often tough task of handicapping HONEST Pace races. The concept is simple. The race is going to be won by either the best early running horse or the best late running horse. And, very often the place horse will have a running style just the opposite of the running style of the winning horse.
Again, please remember that this is not a mechanical system. So, how you actually play each of these scenarios will depend on the specific circumstances and match-ups in the race. And, you would, of course, only make specific wagers if the probable payoffs indicate a value play.
A.
Early Runners
Late Runners
Horse A
gap
Horse B
Horse F
gap
Horse G
This is a one or two horse race. If “A” is clearly superior to “F” in this race, then you may want to bet “A” to win, an A/F straight Exacta and a A/F/BG Trifecta (a $4 bet for a $2 Trifecta). Just reverse “A” and “F” if the “F” horse is the superior horse. If “A” and “F” are close, then you may want to bet both A and F to win, an AF Exacta box and a AF/AF/BG Trifecta ($8).
B.
Early Runners
Late Runners
Horse A
gap
Horse B
Horse F
Horse G
gap
Horse H
This is the most common chart you will see, so we will spend a little more time on it. It shows a one, two or three horse race. These three different scenarios will be handled quite differently.
First, if “A” is clearly superior in this race, you may want to bet “A” to win, an A/FG Exacta and an A/FG/BFGH Trifecta ($12).
Second, if the “F” and “G” horses are superior to the “A” horse, then you may want to bet both “F” and “G” to win, a FG/AFG Exacta and a FG/AFG/ABFGH Trifecta ($24).
The third scenario is if horses “A”, “F” and “G” are all about equal. In this case, looking for value plays is crucial. Most likely, one of the horses will be an underlay and the other two will be overlays. You may want to bet both overlay horses to win. Avoid the temptation to play a three horse Exacta box. Instead, bet the individual combinations that are value plays. We would be inclined to not bet the Trifecta unless the crowd’s favorite figured to finish off-the-board or one of these horses was a long shot and we were very confident it would finish in-the-money. In this case, we would look to key either horse “A”, “F” or “G” in the win and place positions. The Trifecta wager might look something like this: A/FG/BFGH and FG/A/BFGH ($24). See the April and July 1997 newsletters for suggestions on how to bet the Trifecta.
C.
Early Runners
Late Runners
Horse A
Horse B
gap
Horse C
gap
Horse F
This is another two horse race. You may want to bet both “A” and “B” to win, an AB Exacta box and an AB/AB/CF Trifecta ($8).
D.
Early Runners
Late Runners
Horse A
Horse B
gap
Horse C
Horse F
Horse G
gap
Horse H
This is a two or four horse race. If “A” and “B” are clearly superior in this race to “F” and “G”, then you might bet “A” and “B” to win and an AB/ABFG Exacta. We would not play the Trifecta unless the crowd favorite figures to finish off-the-board or we are very confident a long shot will finish in-the-money and we could craft a Trifecta as we did in example B above. If all four of the top horses (A,B,F and G) are relatively equal in this race, we would pass the race. If we cannot narrow the probable winner down to three horses or less, we generally will not play the race.
E.
Early Runners
Late Runners
Horse A
gap
Horse B
Horse F
Horse G
Horse H
Horse I
Horse J
This is an interesting one. If “A” is the superior horse in this race, we would bet “A” to win and we would play selected combinations of A/FGHIJ Exacta tickets. We would play those with probable payoffs indicating good value. We would not play them all. We would most likely pass the Trifecta. If “A” is not superior in this race to the late runners, we would pass the race.
F.
Early Runners
Late Runners
Horse A
Horse B
Horse C
gap
Horse D
Horse F
Horse G
Horse H
gap
Horse I
This one is easy. Go get a hot dog and a Coke. Sit this one out.
Hopefully, this Opposing Pace Gap method will help you sort through HONEST Pace races. For sure, it will make it clear when you should pass an HONEST Pace race. Winning horseplayers do not play every race. Knowing when to pass a race is as important to profitable play as is picking winners.