One of the problems with radical change in data gathering is that you have to gather the data for years before it is usable because that is the only way that you can provide a presentation that is apples to apples. In today's instant gratification world, I'm not anticipating that Equibase or DRF are going to maintain 2 sets of data for 5 years when they have no serious competition.
As for changing leads, I'm not an expert by any means, but I've long thought that lead changes explain a lot of things. For instance, many people think that if a horse closes well at 6f then the horse is looking for more ground and will run great at a mile. I suspect that many such horses don't run well until they change leads at the top of the stretch and will close from 9th to 4th at almost any distance. The only way some such horses win is when facing quitting pigs and then their win spawns a whole new set of handicapping theories that are baseless.
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