Remington Park Plans To Report Horse Weights

[whodoyoulike]

Per BloodHorse reported today.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-horse-weights

... Wells said it's simple information to collect and provides handicappers an extra tool while giving interesting information to new fans.

"It's one of the keys to transparency," Wells said. "Secondly it's a very important handicapping factor. And finally it's something that even novices can relate to." ...

I'm now convinced "people in the industry" do read the posts on this website. Good for Remington Park for taking the lead. And, there really shouldn't be any resistance for other tracks to follow since, after all "it's simple information to collect" which we've wondered about on here.

[Cratos]

Originally Posted by whodoyoulike

Per BloodHorse reported today.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-horse-weights




I'm now convinced "people in the industry" do read the posts on this website. Good for Remington Park for taking the lead. And, there really shouldn't be any resistance for other tracks to follow since, after all "it's simple information to collect" which we've wondered about on here.

Hats off to Remington; a small step for the industry, but a giant step for the bettor.

[whodoyoulike]

Cratos, I was thinking of you when I read the article.

[schweitz]

Remington was doing this back in the 90s. I guess they stopped some point.

[lamboguy]

Originally Posted by Cratos

Hats off to Remington; a small step for the industry, but a giant step for the bettor.

this is no small step, its a giant one. i guarantee this will add at least 25% to the handle next year.

[Saratoga_Mike]

I know the physiology of a dog and a horse are different, but doesn't greyhound racing report weights? When the greyhound's weight moves up or down, are there predictable performance changes? Maybe it's a bad analogy.

[cj]

Originally Posted by lamboguy

this is no small step, its a giant one. i guarantee this will add at least 25% to the handle next year.

I'd take that bet, no way it adds 25%.

That said, glad it will be available.

[PhantomOnTour]

So, the horses will step on a scale in the pre race and that weight will be displayed somehow?
I suppose players can then compare the weight to pasr races, if they've been keeping records, but what about horses who ran at a different track in their last race? Aren't weights useless without access to past weights?
This will be good when other tracks follow suit, but I doubt many will.

[Cratos]

Originally Posted by lamboguy

this is no small step, its a giant one. i guarantee this will add at least 25% to the handle next year.

I didn't make myself clear; the "small step" was referring to Remington being a small racetrack and the impact to the industry overall will not have the same impact as if NYRA had made such decision.

However I agree with you that the bettor will benefit and the handle at Remington should see an increase.

[raybo]

Originally Posted by whodoyoulike

Cratos, I was thinking of you when I read the article.

I read it yesterday, and thought immediately of Cratos (although I was also thinking of myself, too, if it ever becomes widely distributed in the proper formats).

Unfortunately, other tracks will have to incorporate it, and Equibase will have to cooperate to make it available to the various data vendors, and then the vendors will have to cooperate and make it available in their products, and unless you want to do the calculations manually (for the various performance/energy/form analysis functions) , data files must be available.

[raybo]

Originally Posted by lamboguy

this is no small step, its a giant one. i guarantee this will add at least 25% to the handle next year.

Next year?

[lamboguy]

Originally Posted by cj

I'd take that bet, no way it adds 25%.

That said, glad it will be available.

with them dealing mostly to simulcast, having a wide verity of claiming races and running at night, it should add something by that move. there will be more claiming and that usually adds to handle.

in my opinion it will do more for handle than raising purses.

[raybo]

The real value will only be realized after each horse racing has several past race weights available. Without past weights available, the value is minimal, if at all.

A big hit would happen if each horse was weighed before every workout and before each race! Now, that would be valuable info!!

[Tom]

Like Trakus, this will be very limited in number of tracks and acceptable distribution of the data will be even more limited.

It will end up being a bit of information you can use when you play Remington.
Sliced bread is safe.

[raybo]

Originally Posted by Tom

Like Trakus, this will be very limited in number of tracks and acceptable distribution of the data will be even more limited.

It will end up being a bit of information you can use when you play Remington.
Sliced bread is safe.

I agree, the entire industry will have to get behind this before it has any chance of impacting us significantly as handicappers. This is a factor that should have been available to the general racing public decades ago. There's no excuse for it not already being available. They weigh the jocks, pre-race and post-race, and people use that data frequently, but with the horse's current health status in question constantly, in the minds of handicappers, it never entered the industry's mindset at all? Ridiculous!