Off the Track – The Handicapper
The art of handicapping has become synonymous
with horseracing in the US. A handicapper is a
person who tries to predict not only the winner of
each race but also which horses will place second
and third. The dictionary defines handicapping as
"the placing of advantages or disadvantages upon
competitors to equalize the chances of their
winning”. Down the years, organizers have tried
several methods of laying the track to equalize the
chances of all entries. At one point they
experimented by allowing inferior horses to have a
start of a length or less over the better horses.
However, by trial and error, handicapping was left
principally to the weight of the odds.
The track handicapper, by his assignment of
weights to each horse, gives them a pat on the rump
and says: "You can do it, old boy!" In addition to
his own judgment, good or bad, a track handicapper
is aided or sometimes hindered by elaborate scales
of weights drawn up for particular situations. The
Kentucky Derby, for example, is weight for age, and
since all entries are three-year-olds, each carries
126 pounds. Fillies are given a five-pound advantage
and carry only 121 pounds. Most of the weight, of
course, is taken up by the jockey. If a boy weighs
108 pounds and his horse is to carry 120, the 12
pounds are made up with lead in the saddlebags. Many
contend that a pound of "dead" weight actually had
the effect upon the horse of a pound and a half of
"live" weight.
There are formulas, too, which the track
handicapper applies for horses that have won so many
races or so much money. Usually, a horse that wins a
race is assigned more weight in his next race unless
he is being entered with a much higher class of
animal.
It can be readily seen then that the fan and the
expert on the racing paper are not "handicapping."
They are not trying to bring the horse to the finish
line in a tie because, if every fan in the
grandstand wins, the track goes broke and the horses
must shift for themselves.
In other words, the job of the track handicapper
is to scramble all the conditions in such a way that
any horse can win. The job of the fan or expert is
to unscramble these conditions so that the one horse
that will stand out over the others, is picked for
laying stakes on. In effect, what the fan and racing
paper expert try to do is finding flaws or loopholes
in the work of the track handicapper.
The contest of wits between the expert selector
and the track handicapper becomes paradoxical when
it is realized that both use the same variables to
arrive at their decisions. The track handicapper
takes into account the horse's age, speed,
consistency, etc. and then assigns a weight. The
selector takes the same variables and finally
arrives at a horse, which he believes is the best
amongst the entries.
The track handicapper must do his work far in
advance of known track conditions that will prevail
at race time. Selectors on racing papers must also
make selections in advance and track conditions may
change. The player, however, can make his selections
at the very last minute before the horses reach the
post.
The job of a track handicapper is a complicated
one. He should be well aware of all the parameters
that affect the horses and should arrange the weight
tables in such a way that the race appeals to the
public.
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