9/8/2002 edition

Barriers:
Are They Important?

If you are looking for excellent tips and discussion of form you will visit the Horse Racing Forum.

Are good barriers overrated? Here are some recent, interesting postings from the Forum about barriers.

"Equine Investor" posted on the August 1, 2002:

"... I have recently done the barrier stats for someone on this forum who kindly did me a favour. The end result over thousands of races over various distances on various tracks and in varied going gave only a slight disadvantage percentage wise to extreme outside barriers.

The percentage difference over any distance was 1-2% and not even worth worrying about.

What this tells us is that the barrier must suit the horse's style of running.The way the race is run also dictates whether the barrier will be of any consequence. Even over short distances this was true.

For example I would not back a leader from an extreme outside barrier, but would back a swooper. But remember - there will always be exceptions to any rule, that's what keeps us on our toes!"

"Hammers" posted on August 1, 2002:

"Equine Investor, I wouldn't mind backing a leader from 16 if the inside 15 were slugs. I do speed maps for the first 200 metres of a race with some degree of accuracy and it can make a huge difference to one's thinking of a particular race.

Take Randwick. The 1400, 1800 and 2000 starts are treacherous and if you can figure who is going to be where it is an enormous help. As for your swooper, I'd rather it drew in the middle as it could settle say 10th of 16th. If it drew the outside there are two possibilities - drop out to last or sit deep in the mid to rear of the field. I'd much rather back a swooper from 10th on the turn than last on the turn. Cheers.

To which "Equine Investor" added:

"Hammers, some good points there. I was just pointing out that barrier positions are sometimes overrated when doing form. Each race and runner has to be assessed individually, rather than apply a steadfast rule. As the percentages indicate, the advantage, disadvantage can be overrated but it depends on the runner. And as I say, there are always exceptions to the rule."

This edition of Punt to Win:
Lonhro - huge win. Was it a value bet?
You're told to follow these formlines. Don't.
Trifecta betting tips.
Handicapping tips - weight and class
How important are barriers?
Money talks - Rosehill plunge horses
Future winners - unlucky horses
Race down the straight - Flemington farce
Punt to Win 2/8/2002
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