I’ll come right out and say it, no one can handicap every type of race.  Obviously, there are many types of races, but for the sake of simplicity we’ll brake down all races by two factors: surface and distance. For distance, I would divide races by those that are less than 8 furlongs and those that are greater than or equal to 8 furlongs. I would also put Maiden Special Weights in its own category.

The problem we as handicappers face is that we don’t realize how specialized we are. We are not that different from the jockeys and trainers we applaud and criticize. Just like Cristophe Clement is a genius at turf and dirt routes, and no one knows Juveniles like Linda Rice, you have your own specialty as a handicapper. Identifying it is the key to success.

For some reason, I can visualize a dirt route better than any other type of race. I’ve always had a good record and ROI in dirt routes, but I hate turf. I think that lot of turf has to do with class, rather than pace scenario and the amount of lengths that a horse was beaten. In a turf race, a margin of defeat of three turf lengths is roughly equivalent to a margin of defeat of 7.5 dirt lengths. Now, add to that the fact that the beaten horse may have had traffic trouble, a bad post position or trouble navigating the turns, and you see how convoluted turf handicapping can get. Basically, did the jock lose or did the horse? I also have a tendency to play speed, and we all know how well that transfers to turf. I’ll also say that as a more “numbers” based handicapper, I tend to stay away from Maiden Special Weights. I’ve seen War Fronts lose by ten lengths making their dirt debut; Maiden Special Weights are all about reading workouts, and that is not my strength.

My worst pick of the year was Tom’s Tribute in the Breeder’s Cup Mile. My best pick was either V.E. Day in the Travers or Toast of New York in the Classic; what a surprise. I was fooled by Tom’s Tribute’s impressive wins and didn’t factor in the lack of class as much as I should have. With V.E. Day and Toast of New York, they were both 10 furlong horses who were training extremely well leading up to their respective big races. I knew that they both scored really well across the major metrics in the Thoroughbred Analytics Premium Past Performances report. Taking all of this into consideration, those picks were kind of like shooting fish in the proverbial barrel. With the Breeder’s Cup Mile no horse really jumped out at me. I thought Toronado was good and Tom’s Tribute likes California, but I couldn’t visualize the race. I made a “blind pick” and I got what I deserved.

My advice to any and all handicappers would be to play 40 races of each type and record your ROI. Look at the data and figure out what type of handicapper you truly are. After you do this, the hard part comes. You must then have the discipline to sit out the races that play away from your strengths and towards your weaknesses. If you come to realize that you are a dirt route handicapper, this won’t be easy. You’ll be sitting out many a race. Tracks like Canterbury Park and Portland Meadows become virtually unplayable, but this is the only way you stand a chance out there.

So, lets take a page out of Cristophe Clement’s book and stick to the type of race we know; we’ll all be happier people for it. After you do your 40 race analysis, feel free to send it to me via e-mail. I love to see handicappers progress in this game and would love to learn more about the handicapping styles of my readers.

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2014 was quite the year for horse racing. The superstar horses proved they could actually show up – who knew? The three biggest superstars in training – Bayern, California  Chrom,e and Shared Belief combined for a total of 25 starts. So, which races were the most meaningful and which ones were the most enjoyable?

I’ll start off with this; I did not choose any of Main Sequences races because he frankly doesn’t capture the imagination of the general racing public. I’m actually starting to think that the general racing public doesn’t even consider him to be an American horse, but I digress.

The five races chosen all had starpower, and with the excpetion of the one in the fifth spot, lived up to the hype.

5. Breeder’s  Cup Classic:

This race did not fail to disappoint thanks to Martin Garcia channeling his inner Angel Cordero Jr. One has to respect the grittiness of Bayern to hold off two of the best horses in the country. However, one has to wonder how the race would’ve been affected had Moreno been able to put more pressure on Bayern. I will not fault Martin for his Cordero impersonation; after all, look how well it worked out for Angel Cordero Jr. However, it did sour what could have been the most exciting Breeder’s Cup Classic of the last ten years. It also rendered Horse of the Year voting irrelevant in my opinion, because we still cannot definitively say that Shared Belief, Chrome, or Toast of New York are worse than Bayern at 10 furlongs. Maybe Bayern is better, but maybe Martin Garcia is just a better more aggressive jockey than his counterparts, we really don’t know for sure.

4. San Felipe Stakes:

Most east coast racing fans will disagree, but California Chrome tends to run in some deceptively difficult races. He isn’t really comfortable in the lead, and he definitely isn’t comfortable inside of horses. He had to do both of these things to win the San Felipe, and he made them both look easy. This race could have ended badly for California Chrome, but the modestly bred horse showed us that while he isn’t the second coming of Sunday Silence, he can handle some adversity.

3. Frontrunner Stakes:

Maybe I’m just seeing things that aren’t there, but American Pharoah and Texas Red are seriously talented racehorses. In the Frontrunner, American Pharoah showed that if he’s given reasonable fractions he is simply the best juvenile in America. AP’s performance in the race was flattered by Texas Red demoliting the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile field. If American Pharoah and Texas Red can stay healthy and fire on all cylinders at the Derby (a very big if) the 2015 derby will be one for the ages.

2. Awesome Again Stakes:

In one of the oddest incidents all year, Victor Espinoza carried Shared Belief wide around both turns. Now, I do think that Shared Belief fans greatly exaggerted the heroics displayed by their beloved equine hero in overcoming his rough trip, but the race really underscored just how dogged Shared Belief actually is. This race also gave Shared Belief a whole new dimension as he learned what it’s like to have to work inside the eight-pole. Shared Belief started his transformation in this race and 2015 will be an interesting year because of this.

1. Kentucky Derby:

There is no horse that gets racing fans more riled up than California Chrome. If the wagering for the Derby was only open to residents of California, Chrome would have gone off at 3/5. Let’s just say that east coast bettors were a little less sure about Chrome’s chances. The racing establishment spent all week looking for “wiseguy” picks only to be proven wrong. I have to admit that I picked him for third as I didn’t feel he had enough staying power to hold off Wicked Strong or Chitu; boy was I wrong. I am not for Chrome, nor am I against him. All I am saying is that he is the most divisive horse in America right now, bar none, so the race in which he silenced his haters has to be the most important race of 2014.

Thoroughbred Analytics

Class is the most important factor when evaluating a turf horse.

A more obvious sentence has probably never been uttered on the internet. Well, if the importance of class when handicapping turf is so important, then why are most people such terrible turf handicappers?

I think most people are set in their ways. Even if they aren’t, they fail to realize how to make the data truly work for them. A turf race is basically a test of how well a horse can run from the three-eighths pole to the wire. Lure, Wise Dan, Frankel and even Secreatriat all won the same exact way. So, if we can agree that the running of a turf race is much less nuanced than the running of a dirt race, why can’t we handicap dirt races?

I like watching people handicap a card. I never tell them that I’m Jameel from Thoroughbred Analytics because I don’t want to ruin the fun. I want them to handicap like they normally do. After having done this several times, I’ve noticed a few things. First; most handicappers think the pace scenario is equally important in turf as well as dirt. Second; the majority of people think that post position is equally important. Third; the true class of a horse is an afterthought for most handicappers.

Basically, most handicappers don’t switch up their style when going from dirt to turf. They’ll complain about a jockey who rides turf like he does dirt, but they think that it’s okay for them to handicap turf the way they handicap dirt. In a dirt race, a horse can be three lengths better than the competition and lose because of a disadvantageous pace scenario; the same will never be true for turf. I once had an 8-1 shot go ¾ in 1:14.5 in a ten furlong race over a firm turf course and still get gobbled up. It was an aha moment for me to rely on “true class” rather than an advantageous pace scenario.

So, how do I define “true class”? I take the TA Class rating of a horse and times it by two. I then take the TA Speed Rating of that horse and add it all up and divide by three. So, a horse with a class rating of 100.0 and a speed rating of 85.0 would have a “true class” rating of 95.0  ((100+100+85)/3).

Now, do this mean that you pick the horse with the highest true class rating everytime? I would not. However, I would eliminate any horse who’s true class rating isn’t competitve with the top horse’s rating. I would also play close attention to the horse with the top rating, as he will most likely be in the money regardless of the pace scenario.

Here is the important part: In order to get a “true class” rating, the horse needs to have run primarily on the turf and have made a minimum of two starts.

I’ll be handicapping several turf races this weekend and tweeting about horses who’s odds are way higher than their “true-class” would suggest. If you’re on Twitter, feel free to follow along.

Thoroughbred Analytics

Forget the guy at the sandwich shop who constantly talks about the greatness of Shared Belief. Ignore the cult of people who try to convince you that California Chrome is the second coming of Swaps. Run away as fast as you can from anyone who tells you that Bayern doesn’t need the lead to win even an allowance race.

None of these people matter because the Horse of the Year award doesn’t matter

Back when the first recipoent Ack Ack won the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year, horses would run up to ten times per year, and it was almost sacrilegious for the best horses to avoid one another for fear of losing their value as stallions. If you look at the five horses who won the award during the 70’s, the list is littered with horses who will live on in the hearts and minds of the racing public for all of time, and this is why there can be no true horse of the year this year. We the racing public still don’t know how we feel about any of the three main contenders.

Here’s a simple excercise:

If Main Sequence was kidnapped and forced to race at a bush track in Mongolia, how would you feel? How about if California Chrome and Bayern suffered the same fate? The answer to this question is that you simply don’t know. Main Sequence only ran four times this year. Bayern spent the better part of 6 months constantly disappointing his backers. California Chrome hadn’t won since May before his win in the Hollywood Derby. The race that could’ve provided clarity; the Breeder’s Cup Classic, only raised more doubts. Basically, these horses have unfinished business.

Hopefully, California Chrome and Bayern can meet at the Donn Handicap. It would be interesting to see what another head to head meeting would result in. Maybe, Bayern can go ¾ in 1:09.00 and still win a route race, but until that question is answered we can’t call him great.

California Chrome has answered many questions, but there is still one that is on the minds of many; can he win decisively outside of California. If he cannot, he is Lava Man; if he can, the Chromies will light up the internet like never before.

As much as I like Main Sequence, he has the furthest to go in his journey to win the hearts and minds of the American public. While four grade one wins is certainly impressive, he’s still seen as a European horse.

As far as I’m concerned, I view this as a gift. I’m tired of horses retiring at three. I’m tired of having to guess how two horses would have stacked up against one another because they refuse to actually race one another. I see this as the start of a new era in racing. The legacy that Affirmed and Alydar gave to Sunday Silence and Easy Goer is now being carried by California Chrome and Bayern. They have some unfinished business, lets cast our judgement after the dust has truly settled.

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