Race to Race Odds Patterns

By: Ray Taulbot

Knowing that 90 percent of all racegoers do not do any serious

 handicapping, it is not surprising that so many

 readers have written ATM to request what amounts to a "magic angle"

formula. What they want to

 be able to do is to go to the track, buy a program or Daily Racing Form,

 make their selections and get

a lot of winners at good prices.

At this point, we"ll state that "there ain"t no such animal." No angle will

 cover every types of race found

 on a nine-race card, from maidens through the feature event. What

these fans should do is provide themselves

 with enough angles to adequately cover all types of races.

If they don"t want to go to the trouble of memorizing a half dozen

good angles, then they should stick to

 just one, making their biggest bet on whatever horse it points out

(If indeed there is one) and go about

having fun with two-dollar bets on therest of the card.

In this respect, we think it best for such fans to stick to a good

trainer angle. If they get involved with raw

 time and speed ratings from the past performances, they can miss the boat.

Before we go into this month"s angle, we"d like to point out that almost

 all trainer angles demand more

than cold facts and figures from the past performance data. They demand an

 awareness of what the trainer

has done and what it appears he is likely to do today. In short, a little

 dab of "mind reading" won"t hurt and it

 is not too hard to acquire this with experience.

This angle will pick winners in all types of races if the player uses

such awareness. It will pick winners in

 maiden races because a horseman wants just as much to win a bet with a

 maiden as he does with

a handicap horse. However, it is best with claimers because too often with

 classier horses, there are too

 many contenders. Very often, one can find a single qualified angle horse

 in a claiming race and this

makes a particularly solid bet.

In using this particular angle, the player must keep in mind the power

of "back class." For the benefit of those

 who may not be entirely familiar with the term back class, it has two

 meanings. One of these pertains to the

 class in which the horse has raced prior to its last race. However,

 when the term is used in conjunction

 with an angle, it takes on a slightly different meaning. Since the angle we

 are presenting comprises the

 horse"s last three races, back class therefore means the horse"s class level

 prior to the second race

back. Any reader who uses this angle without consideration of pace

or other basic methods of handicapping

 should always make sure that in some race prior to the second race back,

the horse finished well in

a class equal to or higher than its entered class today or showed good

 early speed in better company

than itis meeting today. We will explain these points and present

examples shortly.

First, we"ll put the points we are looking for into proper perspective:

1. Watch for horses whose odds went up five points or more in their

next-to-last race after a trying

effort in their third or fourth race back.

2. In order to qualify on this angle, the horse"s odds must have dropped

at least five points last start as

compared to the odds at which it was held in its next-to-last race.

3. Such a horse must have run a race not more than 15 days ago in claiming

 races and 20 days ago

 in allowances or feature races; the more recently it was run, the better the

selection.

4. Though not a hard and fast rule, if the horse is the only qualified

angle horse in the race, the better the

selection.

5. If there are two qualified angle horses in the race try to choose the

one for which you see some additional

 favoring factor. If you do not find any additional favoring angle, play the

 horse going off at the best price if there

 are only two. If there are more than two angle horses in the race, skip it.