Horse Racing Handicapping Angles for First Time Starters
If you've ever bet on maiden races you know that some of the horses have had no races. These horses that are debuting are known as first time starters or firsters. How can you possibly bet on them or against them? You can't tell what they may do. Remember, even the great Secretariat was a firster at one time.
While it is always risky to bet on horse races, good handicapping will help you to know when a wager is good value and when it is over priced. That means that a bet will eventually cost more than it pays, or put another way, if you make the same bet for $2 ten times, you'll end up with less than a $20 bill.
One of the best ways to know what a horse will do is to look at its family tree. If Mom and Dad were capable of winning on first asking then maybe Junior, too. Sometimes, even if the parents weren't precocious, the off spring might be. While horses like all animals inherit traits, they sometimes inherit a trait from a grandparent.
The offspring of Danzig are an example. In his short career, Danzig wasn't known as a great turf router, but his progeny certainly were. Lately, there have been a few firsters who won route races on the grass. Their sire was Stormy Atlantic. Another sire who recently produced a firster was Exchange Rate. On January 14th, Evanderfield, a colt out of Exchange Rate by the mare Secretly who is out of the sire, Secretariat won his very first race, a one mile maiden claiming event on the grass at Gulfstream Park.
While I give credit to Exchange Rate for producing a son who can perform such a feat, I think a lot of credit should go to Secretly who has had 8 foals of which 7 have been winner, I mean 8, that is, now that Evanderfield won. On the same day, another firster, Ari C, won a mile and a sixteenth turf race. He is out of Stormy Atlantic by the A.P.Indy mare, Mia Donna.
It should be noted that these horses did not perform this feat as a fluke. They both had good trainers who pointed them toward the race and prepared them, knowing their horse could win. A competent rider on each one completed the team, well almost, I think we have to give the grooms and owners their due as well.
Grass sires and the sires of precocious colts and fillies is still a good angle as long as you remember that it takes a trainer who is a good conditioner and also willing to try for the win with a firster.
While it is always risky to bet on horse races, good handicapping will help you to know when a wager is good value and when it is over priced. That means that a bet will eventually cost more than it pays, or put another way, if you make the same bet for $2 ten times, you'll end up with less than a $20 bill.
One of the best ways to know what a horse will do is to look at its family tree. If Mom and Dad were capable of winning on first asking then maybe Junior, too. Sometimes, even if the parents weren't precocious, the off spring might be. While horses like all animals inherit traits, they sometimes inherit a trait from a grandparent.
The offspring of Danzig are an example. In his short career, Danzig wasn't known as a great turf router, but his progeny certainly were. Lately, there have been a few firsters who won route races on the grass. Their sire was Stormy Atlantic. Another sire who recently produced a firster was Exchange Rate. On January 14th, Evanderfield, a colt out of Exchange Rate by the mare Secretly who is out of the sire, Secretariat won his very first race, a one mile maiden claiming event on the grass at Gulfstream Park.
While I give credit to Exchange Rate for producing a son who can perform such a feat, I think a lot of credit should go to Secretly who has had 8 foals of which 7 have been winner, I mean 8, that is, now that Evanderfield won. On the same day, another firster, Ari C, won a mile and a sixteenth turf race. He is out of Stormy Atlantic by the A.P.Indy mare, Mia Donna.
It should be noted that these horses did not perform this feat as a fluke. They both had good trainers who pointed them toward the race and prepared them, knowing their horse could win. A competent rider on each one completed the team, well almost, I think we have to give the grooms and owners their due as well.
Grass sires and the sires of precocious colts and fillies is still a good angle as long as you remember that it takes a trainer who is a good conditioner and also willing to try for the win with a firster.
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