Horse Racing Fantasy Community

For those players who really don't want to spend a lot of time in detailed handicapping, going through each past performance with a magnifying glass, and yet still want to be successful in our virtual horse game, then I suggest my three bullet point handicapping program.

Point 1: Look at the age of the horse. Every horse in our game has a preference or what we call "peak age". By running races at various ages in private mode, you will be able to identify at what age this horse performs best. The key here is to run that horse at various distances at that particular age and then look for his highest speed ratings. But, we'll get back to this in a minute.

Point 2: Distance - does he want to go short or does he want to race long? Just like in real racing, most horses in our game will have a preference in distance. Although about 20% of the horses can run in both short distances (or sprints) and long distances (over a mile), the majority of the horses have a preference as either sprinters or routers. You can tell their preference by not only where they finished, but by what their speed rating is for those races.

Point 3: Age, distance and speed rating - bringing them all together. Once you find the horse's peak age and his preferred distance, you have basically figured out what type of races where this horse fits and should perform his best. From a simplistic handicapping viewpoint, you can ignore the trip factor, whether he prefers to be on the front or he's a closer, or if he ran into trouble during a particular race (maybe he was blocked). Yes, all of these factors are important, but they're really the fine tuning that requires patience and practice. For our players who want to make a quick analysis, identifying a horse's peak age and preferred racing distance is a quick way to find yourself either betting or jockeying a contender in a particular race.

The speed rating is the number that is identified on the past performance line for each horse. The speed rating comes after the horse's finish and is toward the right of the past performance line. You'll actually see two speed rating numbers - one that the computer assigns based on where the horse actually finished, and the other speed rating (the ASR), which will usually be a higher number, is based on us taking into account any issues or problems, such as a very wide trip or the horse being bumped or blocked, that would have hindered the horse's performance. If that issue had not happened, then this is the more likely speed rating number the horse would have had.

In simple terms, speed rating isn't the magic bullet for picking winners and cleaning up at the race track. In fact, in real life handicapping, just using the speed figures will never produce a positive ROI from a betting standpoint. The same goes for using speed figures in our game. What it does is it allows you to slowly introduce yourself to the more in-depth data that is provided. It allows you to pick a probable contender in any race you're going to jockey or bet.

There's plenty of good information that can be obtained from our handicapping video guide from the Get Help tab from the top navigation menu. I truly suggest that everyone watch the Handicapper's Guide to Horse Racing Fantasy. It will not only give you a better understanding of speed ratings, but also how to interpret the other data that might support your pick when jockeying or betting.

One final thought. I get a lot of people telling me they are overwhelmed by the data that the game produces after each race is run. For an experienced horse player, it's probably really not enough data. There is so much information available for the hardcore handicapper in the real world, the novice fan or the casual fan would just simply be very overwhelmed. That data we show is really not that intimidating. I guess the best way I can explain it is by quoting what my first boss used to say to me when I'd have two feet of files stacked on my desk. I would say to him, "There's too much information here, I'm overwhelmed, how am I supposed to get through this?" His answer was always the same, "Just one file at a time, boy, one file at a time." So, for all of you new players or casual racing fans, just start out with this simple analysis program as suggested above and then work your way into the more in-depth information as you become more confident of what that data really means and how you can use it to your advantage to win.

- Fantasyhandicapper