I just disagree that "trip handicapping" is everything especially when horses off layoffs are completely ignored especially when you see that a horse over an 12-18 month period is developing and may have made enough of a forward move to be competitive in a field where previously they were not. Statements like 2 horses in a field are capable of winning are proven wrong time and time again.
Describing the ride of a racehorse like it handles with the precision of a sports car does not accurately respect the unknown response of the animal on that day. There are more variables to use and respect than is described here.
A combination of speed or race figures, film, field size and class and cycle of the horse not to mention early speed and closing ability are essentially the equation and there is no substitute or short cut for most races. Sometimes you see things on film as I did yesterday with "Roll the Di", othertimes it may be the slope of the TGH curve of development for a lightly raced horse etc, etc.
Tape is nice but it is one piece of a more complicated puzzle.
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