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Class in a racehorse is a little like
chasing a fleeting dream. One minute it
is there and the next minute it vanishes
like an apparition. If you want to make
winning bets in this game, you have to
be able to accurately assess what it means.
Class tells, class shows, and the class
of the field are phrases one hears daily
at every racetrack in the country - but
class can prove elusive.
These days, horse bettors have to make
instant judgments about class and what
it means on today’s changing scenery
- the synthetic age. A runner may show
his top class on a conventional dirt track,
but under achieve on the Cushion or Polytrack.
Pundits, players, horsemen and fans have
reviewed the concept of class for centuries
and the term has evolved but still remains
mysterious.
Let’s get back to basics. Since
the conditions of each and every race describe
the horses eligible, that is where the
discussion of class must start.
If a horse has accomplished so much on
the racetrack that he barely qualifies
for the conditions of a particular race,
he has to be designated as the class in
the field.
An edge must be awarded to a horse that
has beaten or run close to better animals
that the ones he is facing today. Horses
that drop drastically in class are almost
always hammered at the windows and they
win their fair share of races. But there
is where it gets tricky.
To make a blanket statement that since
a horse has proven himself at a certain
level, he is the class of this particular
field, can be a misnomer. Consistency has
long been a staple of the so-called class
handicapper. But as we all know, there
are plenty of horses that are consistent,
and some of them consistently run third
or fourth, hardly the criteria for a class
animal.
Nobody is giving away their horses on
the backstretches of the American racing
scene. And since the general public is
so enamored with horses dropping in class,
astute players need to take a contrasting
approach and look for sharp horses that
are going up the class ladder.
Class and speed are intertwined like full
brothers but they are not interchangeable.
The fastest horses get to the wire first
and evolve in class, but not all fast horses
are classy.
Total earnings or average earnings per
start are one way of attempting to clarify
the class issue. But it is harder than
just pure figures will reflect. As a horse
progresses through his career and the years
go on, earnings can become misconstrued.
The runner may have been on a particular
roll during the late portion of his sophomore
year but eventually went into a long losing
streak, losing his form and his present-day
class.
His total earnings, or earnings per start,
will be heavily weighted to when he was
going well, not to his present state of
racing today.
Novice fans, and experienced ones too,
make assumptions daily on class horses.
Not all of them are correct, especially
in the day to day, bread and butter stock
that make up the majority of cards in this
country, the claimers.
Just because a horse won a race in a $10,000
claimer, doesn’t necessarily make
him the class of the field when he faces
runners offered for $6,500. If the $10,000
field he beat was restricted to non-winners
of 2 races, or non-winners of 2 races at
a certain distance, the cast is likely
inferior to a group of $6,500 claimers
that have knocked around the circuit in
open company - winning umpteen races at
a lower level.
Remember, class can be the grit, determination
of a champion. It can be the speed horse,
which clearly outclasses his rivals or
it can be the true class horse, which has
won on a certain level consistently.
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Posted on 8/24/2007 8:34:01 PM
Horseracing Betting - The Fleeting Dream
By Brian Mulligan
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