Class of the field

[upset]

Have any of yall ever tried to average in a number rating the competitveness of the race 1,2,3,4,or 5 along with a class level number along with a speed rating. To come up with a class/speed number like J.Quinn sugests in his book class of the field?

[timtam]

Actually someone created a program to use the data from the book Class of

the Field quite a few years ago. It's probably on a floppy disk but I do

remember most of the reviews were very negative.

[GaryG]

Using COTF requires a lot of careful race watching and is very subjective. I don't see how it lends itself to computer analysis. The point is that a good figure under competitive or stressful conditions is worth a lot more than the same fig with an easy trip.

[CincyHorseplayer]

Originally Posted by upset

Have any of yall ever tried to average in a number rating the competitveness of the race 1,2,3,4,or 5 along with a class level number along with a speed rating. To come up with a class/speed number like J.Quinn sugests in his book class of the field?

No number IMO can replace an understanding of the class structure.Mark Cramer has mentioned in his books that speed figures rise and fall by as many as 5 points or more on class rises and drops.It's merely finish position of a class drop,horses under more ideal circumstances get inspired and run faster races.Anticipating these jumps is key.A selected paceline "Might" be an indicator.But trainer intent and class circumstances can produce big efforts.It takes a while but look at the condition books at the tracks you play.Many subtle looking moves are huge.

[Robert Goren]

BRIS has a class rating in some of their past performances. It is a useful number. JMO

[Cratos]

I have always believed that class is post-race determined and is defined as the level at which a horse consistently wins.

There is no number that will quantitate class. However winning will always point you toward class.

[46zilzal]

TOO erratically subjective to have any long term functionality....good book, just impractical.

[skate]

judge class by the money

[Tom]

Originally Posted by 46zilzal

TOO erratically subjective to have any long term functionality....good book, just impractical.

Did you try? That was the question posed.

Upset, I am trying it for the triple crown races...I'll let you know what I come up with. I did it a couple of years ago and it was a really good handicapping experience if nothing else. I think the method can be applied to easier nowadays with chart availability, better pars and speed figs, and replays.
That is my new project this year. I don't see a need to do every race,nor every horse. It can now be done more on the fly and in real time.

[castaway01]

Originally Posted by skate

judge class by the money

After the changes of the past decade due to all of the inflated slot-machine purses, that won't work nearly as well as it once did.

[ranchwest]

Originally Posted by castaway01

After the changes of the past decade due to all of the inflated slot-machine purses, that won't work nearly as well as it once did.

Seems to still work.

[skate]

yes sir, it depends on just how precise and how you want to use the 'class'.


for an overall view, is one thing but for action on todays race, for me, i'll consider the purse money from witch i take a line.

simple enough, but it could complicate it we try to judge one line from a 50,000 claimer and another line from a 40,000 alw., consider track to track along with a few othwer points, but bottom line, i'll look at money, which Also means the purse.

[upset]

It just seems to me, like Tom said, you're making a number useing your own qualitative visualation of the races(ie the triple crown preps) you're comingleing several handicapping schools of thought(speed,pace,trip) and coming up with a number that no one else has but yourself. And if you take it a step further throw in form and cycle somehow you could make your own morningline and bet the overlays. It could be a dream come true somed up in one number. because when you think about it, the game is sumed up in one set of numbers, and thats the odds line for each race.

[CincyHorseplayer]

If you are specifying then it's a different story.Class conditions are relevant on nuts and bolts,everyday races.But if you are talking about 2yo and 3yo that are trying a marathon distance as teenagers with zits on their face and bad habits,then class is a spurious concept.

But on a day to day basis,if you are trying to beat the game,class means a lot.Myself personally,once I eliminated conditions I couldn't beat,ones that literally tore me apart,my win rate rose bigtime.And that is what this whole game is about.Put the bias in your favor.Come up with a betting angle that has ridiculous ROI.It's real and it's possible and class sensitivity is definitely a place to start.

[windoor]

A long time ago I use to calculate a “purse effectiveness” (PE) number my looking at the number of times a horse ran in the money and adding .6 for each win, .2 for each 2nd, .1 for 3rd and .05 for 4th as determined by his last 10 starts. Get the total, and then divide into the total money won for the year.

This, in theory, would give the average purse the horse in question was able to run well, and thus determine the class of the horse. Any horse that was running for a purse that was well under his PE number was considered a contender.

It wasn’t much use for younger horses, but could work well with 4 year and older, as long as you could determine the horse was fit for today’s race.

I still use something very similar today. I find it works quite well in the claiming ranks down to about 5K.

Regards,

Windoor