I'm not the right guy and this thread isn't the right place to litigate class as a handicapping factor, but suffice to say it's an accepted fundamental aspect, and I'll try to answer your question about this runner in this race.
The
has more class because he's faced consistently tougher competition and ran in higher grades of races than the
. The
may have prevailed when they hooked up last, but
has the more seasoned record of high quality racing. He's run bigger speed figs than
as well.
I'm a TFUS shop so I use its figures to assess class rather than parse out individual race conditions and results of runners coming out of those races. BRIS has class figs, too.
I put more emphasis on class in high quality races like this one. I also use class to try and find a legitimate price that's not as obvious, and bet, as a high last out speed figure, like the
.
Plenty of races are won by horses without the best speed figs others bet, and some of those are attributable to class.
I always remember someone on this board years ago articulating how a classier horse might intimidate another trying to make a move in a race, eyeballing him, "try me." I'm no equine expert, but there's a pecking order of a pack animal and class gets at that. So, yes, they kinda do know what class they're in.
