How do you handicap horses who have raced in foreign countries?

[whodoyoulike]

I've always wondered how people handicap horses which have recently run in foreign countries. I try and avoid these races except for major races (Gr. 1 or 2) then I try to see who they raced against, types of races and how they competed.

Another question I have. In another thread (Finger Lakes?) Lamboguy mentioned Hong Kong PP. Are the HK PP similar to the foreign PP or are they like the detailed US PP we are used to seeing here?

Thanks.

[Some_One]

HK PP's are getting better since sectional timing/positions are freely available. The HKJC website form only provides the last 4 running lines only though, although there are way of doing it yourself (I have my own database for HK and make my own PP's/ratings).

For UK racing, it's not easy I'll admit, one thing I've focused on is looking for horses who can win from close to the lead, a lot of their best horses like to drop to last and outsprint them home and most racing elsewhere doesn't work like that. It's the angle I used on to play Magician in the BC Turf, avoid Olympic Glory in the Mile (and played against Moonlight Express and Sky Latern at short odds in the HK Mile)

[Tom]

I use the TimeForm ratings.
If they don't have one, I pass.

[biggestal99]

Trainer , trainer , trainer. O'Brien don,t bring slow hosses, neither does gosden

Allan

[Robert Goren]

Know your trainers. Some do well with horse being ship over here and others don't.

[raybo]

Don't run across them much at the tracks I play most often. But, when I do see them I look at the distances and surfaces they have been running, and try to match up classes, if possible. If they have shipped before, how did they do, etc.. In races that look to favor closers I usually include those foreign horses who have the better records around this distance and on either dirt or turf, etc.. Trainer record is also a factor but not so much. How are they appearing to handle the new track and its environs, when possible. Just very basic stuff.

[BettinBilly]

I use the TimeForm ratings.
If they don't have one, I pass.

;):ThmbUp:

Indeed.

[classhandicapper]

If you track the stakes caliber imports from various countries as they come into the US you'll soon see which countries have better turfers than ours. Then you can class them up. Grade 1 France > Grade 1 US etc...

You also want to pay attention to which trainers do well "first time" in NA.

Finally, some horses are shipped here specifically because they had a bleeding issue in Europe. So "Lasix on" will sometimes turn their recent form around.

[DJofSD]

Last night I only watched races 1, 2 and 3 from Sha Tin.

What I did last night was more or less two things: watch the horses in the saddling arena and on track warming up, and, to a lesser degree, listen to the analysis by the on-air personalities. I picked one winner out of the three races but race 1 did not count since they cut away during the warm up to show the Cal Expo race.

If I had seen the PPs before hand, I would have read the comment lines as carefully as possible, looked for possible form cycles and attempt a crude class evaluation.

[JohnnyU31]

If you track the stakes caliber imports from various countries as they come into the US you'll soon see which countries have better turfers than ours. Then you can class them up. Grade 1 France > Grade 1 US etc...

You also want to pay attention to which trainers do well "first time" in NA.

Finally, some horses are shipped here specifically because they had a bleeding issue in Europe. So "Lasix on" will sometimes turn their recent form around.

Thanks, that's good advice.