Maiden Races

[bigga 1]

Is anyone pretty succesful at m/clm..msw races and would care to shed a bit of knowledge to an student of the game who is trying to conquer the newbies.

[deathandgravity]

The only time I had any luck was when I had friends in the business back in my misspent youth @ Turf Paradise. (that was a long time ago)

I usually don't play them unless they are part of an exotic like a P6 or P4.

That being said... the Brisnet Pedigree Rating has helped me land some very nice P4's over the years.

But... the general ROI on Brisnet Pedigree Rating is fairly abysmal. (-31% in my limited db)

[GaryG]

In the cheapest of maiden claimers there are often only a few entrants that have shown any talent at all. These races are often dominated on the lead, so the horse with the highest pace rating is usually an excellent bet.

[lamboguy]

my suggestion would be that you should pick a way that you handicap those type of races and be consistent, just stick with what you are doing. don't go jumping around. don't let odds sway you either.

[Ocala Mike]

I concentrate on 2nd time starters; like to look for horses that took money in their first race, threw in a "bad paper" race, with ANY kind of excuse at all, i.e., bad start, bled, GREENLY (the best), etc. Also, nags dropping into claimers from maiden specials.

I subscribe to the theories that the biggest drop in horse racing is from MdSpWt tp MdClm and the biggest improvement a horse is likely to show EVER in its career is from its first start to its second.

[AndyC]

I am sure there are several ways to attack the maiden races. For me, I have found that knowing the trainers works best. Keep a file for each trainer of the PPs of all of their maiden starters. Trainers repeat successful patterns. You should note which trainer's horses do well when bet. Note which owner's horses do well when bet. Note if equipment changes are significant or if certain riders are significant. Note workout patterns including distance, spacing of workouts, and times of workouts. You will be amazed at the nuggets you will discover.

[Valuist]

Trainers and key races. Some barns specialize in 2nd timers or 3rd timers. Often times these barns show big improvement between their 1st and 2nd start and/or their 2nd and 3rd start. But often there has to be a major change; adding blinkers, adding Lasix, switching from a sprint to route or dirt to turf. 3rd time starter data is significant because the DRF and BRIS don't have it.

With key races, if you collect the charts, instead of going back only to the horse's last race, circle each of their races going back much further. You want to know which maiden fields were strong. Lets say there's a GP race from early Feb. You see 4 of the also rans have since come back to win, even though none did in their next start. The DRF key race tracker won't have that info.

[pondman]

I concentrate on 2nd time starters; l.

I like the 3rd start. It's possibly to find a softer MSW without entering in a mc, such MSW60 to a MSW30 with State restrictions and additions. These can be profitable. It's important to read the conditions. For 2 year olds on the high end, it usually the fastest horse in the morning and in recent. This is one of the few times I look at speed ratings.