5 Steps you can do to handicap a horse’s speed

Speed handicapping in horse racing offers new fun when indulging in the sport. As we all know, horse racing delves into how fast a horse reaches each distance. With speed handicapping, bettors can use this method to predict the outcome of races by learning about a thoroughbred’s speed.

Although handicapping a horse’s speed may be understandable in theory, applying what you’ve learned may not be a piece of cake. With this, it’s essential to learn everything there is to know about it and how to do it the ‘right’ way. Thus, continue reading below and take a glimpse of how to handicap a horse’s speed:

Look at Past Performances

The first thing to do when handicapping a horse’s speed is to look at its past performances. If you’re completely new to the sport, watching old videos will help you learn how well the horse did. It can even provide you with the necessary information, such as the raw time and its speed figure.

When talking about raw time, this could be the horse’s final time in the race, whereas the speed figure refers to the number used to assess how fast the horse runs at a particular race and its inherent speed on a particular track.

Knowing both gives you a good grasp of each horse’s streak. You’d even be able to obtain a reliable indicator to compare a horse’s performance among others in terms of track, race, and day. Likewise, since tracks vary, you’d have a much deeper understanding of how fast a horse runs depending on its track. You could even look up horse speed on turf to learn more about performances on specific race tracks.

Overall, getting to know each candidate and learning about their past performances (especially their raw time and speed figures) will help you in the long run. With this, you get accurate predictions when handicapping!

Start Handicapping

Since you’ve already learned about the candidates, it’s time to take note of the best ones and start handicapping! Here, you need to predict the race’s outcome with the information you’ve gathered in the first step. When you start the handicapping process, the thrill starts, and you get to filter out the contenders.

With the information you’ve gained about raw time and speed figures, you can compare each contender, differentiate them, and identify the best. You could also look into other factors – such as breeding, connections, trainers, and ability – as these could play a vital role in a horse’s performance.

Overall, handicapping can be quite the thrill since it deals with accurate information and ventures into the world of prediction and chance. It could also be eye-opening for novice bettors who have yet to know how to make it big in horse racing.

Analyze your Chosen Horses

Since you’ve already looked at past performances and filtered out the best ones, it’s time to make your choices more accurate through analysis. First, of course, it’s always helpful to analyze the streak of your chosen contenders. It’s also helpful to look at both winning and losing performances. Doing so lets you see both sides of the coin and take note of your contender’s strengths and weaknesses.

Moreover, you could start by looking at recent performances of your chosen horses. You need to note whether their speed improved with each race and whether they did well on different tracks. It would help if you felt assured with your choice, that you see an improvement in your contender’s speed, and that you know they’re worth the bet.

If you’re unsure about your choice, you could go back to step 2 and change your contender. Try to take time with each step since analyzing the horse’s background and performance is essential.

Join a Speed Handicapping Forum

Joining a speed handicapping forum is optional, but you could always do it if you want to know the perspective of other viewers. You could even increase your knowledge about the races, betting, and speed handicapping. By using the internet, you could not only obtain a means of information by yourself but also by communicating with others in the same sport. 

Although watching recent news and the latest updates is beneficial, joining a forum will help you understand the viewpoints of others with different contenders or even those with the same contenders as you. Nevertheless, reaching out and joining a forum increases your knowledge and may even increase your chances of winning.

Place your Bet

With all that effort and time analyzing information, you’ve finally come to the last step where you must make your decision. Your prediction will come into play when you place your bet, knowing who among the contenders will finish first. 

Likewise, from here on forward, you’d need to consider betting odds (such as types and amount). As for now, however, gaining full confidence and knowing that you’ve done well in analyzing your data means you get to harvest your hard-earned success. 

Final Thoughts

With these five steps, you’re not only going to learn about the theory of handicapping a horse’s speed, but you will also get the chance to put it into actuality. Although the steps can take time and effort, the benefits you reap will be worth it. Thus, start handicapping and increase your chances of winning!

Category: Racing