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Originally Posted by thaskalos
I shake my head when I see all the different categories of horseplayers that we see in the game today. "Comprehensive handicappers", "specialists", "speed handicappers", "class handicappers", "pace handicappers", "figure handicappers", "trip handicappers", "angle handicappers", "physicality handicappers", "trainer-stat handicappers", "tote-board handicappers", "hi-tech handicappers", "pencil-and-paper handicappers", etc.
It's all pretty foolish, if you ask me. To me...all the handicappers can be safely and accurately grouped in just two categories: Winners and losers.
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I am afraid that your closing statement is probably correct Thask..
STILL, I think Al's topic is not a bad one, as it touches a central point of handicapping and there is a lot of room for related discussions and debates..
I am convinced that handicapping angles (or factors or scenarios or whatever else you might want to call them) remain and always will be important for horse betting
What makes them very interesting, is the fact that whether they indeed affect the behaviour of a horse or not, handicapping factors certainly have a great impact to the value offered, mainly because they are believed by the vast majority of the bettors.
As an example, I always remember a race, where I had placed a very heavy bet, on a fillie who had just won her maiden, trying now graded company for her first time.
I was lucky to win the bet at odds around 4-1 .
What remains vivid in my memory from this
red-board, is the frustration of an old bettor (close to 70), who kept on complaining to his company, that horses who have just broke their maidens are not supposed to win back to back, especially against accomplished graded winners and how the game is rigged, fixed and full of scum...
The old man, is a perfect example of how, a fallacious handicapping angle, can become profitable even if it is completely wrong, assuming of course that enough people are making the bets based on it...
