Just to clarify, if you try to handicap without figures, you will be hamstrung. Invariably the first item of info one needs to know is how fast the participants are, maybe not at this distance specifically, but close to and the patterns, lines graphically laid out provide an overall picture of form and condition.
I remember the pre-Beyer days when I\'d be at Belmont or Aqueduct trying to figure out just how fast the horses were. Initially I used the DRF variant ratings but they were obviously flawed. The \"who-beat-who\" class designations occasionally worked but rarely at a big price. I knew what others knew. Didn\'t know any workout guys so I only read what others read. Of course, there were figures available, people who followed trainers and pedigrees. This info was out there and it was much more esoteric, not mainstream, then it is now. Gathering data was pencil-to-paper as Beyer details in \"Picking Winners.\"
I guess the point is quite simply that knowing how fast horses is the foundation from which to make more refined judgements. If you don\'t know that you have much more of a chance to be off by a difference in kind as opposed to degree.
