Handicapper's Condition Book

[Drew]

What do you guys think of the charts in the back of the Handicapper's Condition Book? Has anybody used it to handicap and has anybody had any success?

Specifically to those who do use it, how do you use the charts do you use the form, distance, and workout standards to determine contenders and then see if they fit the "handicapper's prefer" to find your bet or do you just look at the handicapper's prefer and ignore the standards.

Thanks for any help about this.

Drew

[AwolAtPA]

what is '..Handicapper's Condition Book..'

do you have a link or is it print only?

awol

[Drew]

"The Handicappers Condition Book" by James Quinn. Its a book.

[Lasix1]

What do you guys think of the charts in the back of the Handicapper's Condition Book? Has anybody used it to handicap and has anybody had any success?

Specifically to those who do use it, how do you use the charts do you use the form, distance, and workout standards to determine contenders and then see if they fit the "handicapper's prefer" to find your bet or do you just look at the handicapper's prefer and ignore the standards.

Thanks for any help about this.

Drew
Like a lot of Quinn's work, The Handicappers Condition Book is logical, brilliant, well-written---and doesn't work. :)

[thebeacondeacon]

What do you guys think of the charts in the back of the Handicapper's Condition Book? Has anybody used it to handicap and has anybody had any success?

Specifically to those who do use it, how do you use the charts do you use the form, distance, and workout standards to determine contenders and then see if they fit the "handicapper's prefer" to find your bet or do you just look at the handicapper's prefer and ignore the standards.

Thanks for any help about this.

Drew

Two things to remember about "THCB":

1) The first edition, 1981, was superior to the revised one, 1983.

2) Use the concepts and your own judgment. Don't try to use the tables as a system.

The best concepts in the book are the underplayed fast track allowance horses, dropping claimers that need the drop (not the dropping horses for sale off good races), and horses that just slip in under the conditions.

thebeacondeacon

[Tom]

Why do you say 81 was better than 83?

[thebeacondeacon]

Why do you say 81 was better than 83?

Because Quinn went overboard for the system approach, rather than handicapping insights.

I thought that diluted the original thinking that set this book apart as a classic on the subject.

thebeacondeacon

[46zilzal]

Like a lot of Quinn's work, The Handicappers Condition Book is logical, brilliant, well-written---and doesn't work.
Agree 100%

[Tom]

I disagree. I think the guidelines for many of the types of races still point out viable contenders enough times to be worthwhile.

[kenwoodallpromos]

It was a book that helped convince me that every race is not the same and to look at different races differently, so it was invaluable to me.
I look for principals, angles, and stats from books to lift, but I need to develop my own particular methods that I can adapt to the situation, and no certain method in any book will work for all stuations, and I do not expect them to.

[JackS]

I did read this book quite a few years ago. The book IMO is not the type of handicapping material that can be used on a race by race basis and used to pick possible winners. The strength of the book lies in the knowledge that you gain from a better understanding and possible reasons why certain conditions are written for certain races and at times for certain horses.
After you read this book, you will be more likely to read and attempt to decipher the conditions which at times strongly favor a single horse (best case) or possibly only a few horses which can still be an advantage.
One standout example I remember from a few years ago was a NY Stks race in which added money was offered to NY breds. I can't remember the amount but it might have been the equivilent of 1/4th the purse which is a significant amount of money. The strange thing about this race running in NY, out of mayby ten horses, there was only one NY bred entered. The horse won paying boxcars and the conditions guys no doubt cleaned up.
There are many other more subtle clues in many or most races that handicappers can incorporate into their standard handicapping.
The big value in this book is the added knowledge that each reader will be made more aware of conditions and will probably begin to read if he has not been paying particular attention to them in the past.

[Overlay]

A race that will always stick in my mind was one that I ran across in the late 1970's when I had just started following racing. I had also just been reading some of Ainslie's material about the importance of checking race conditions. A race at Arlington Park was restricted to non-winners of a race since a certain date, and one of the entrants (named Minnie Riperton, after the since-deceased singer) showed a win on the exact cutoff date stated in the conditions. After she won at a good price, I needed no more convincing about being sure to give the conditions a once-over as a routine part of my handicapping.

[JackS]

Overlay- Yeah, I look for those also. When a date is mentioned and one horse qualifies on that cutoff date, there is only one logical answer and that is the RS speciically wrote those conditions to fit this particular horse.