Easy Handicapping?
jjohns7777
Senior Member
In the past five or six weeks, I've been much more successful at picking winners (close to 50%), but mostly favorites. I have limited most of the races I pick to stakes races. Is it me, or does it seem that the trainers with the Derby hopefuls are all entering their horses in races they should easily win? Is this normal at this time of the year? Is it maybe because I'm paying a lot more attention to those particular horses than I ever have before, so it's easier for me to spot them?
Comments
Regarding the Derby hopefuls, it's probably true that trainers of the better horses tend to be conservative with their spotting, unless the horse is in dire need of graded earnings and forced into a corner. Sometimes though, the two can coincide, such as with Baffert sending both Castaway and Princess Arabella to Sunland Park this weekend. JUst depends on the situation.
I would submit though that it's easier for the better horses to be conservatively-placed, because since they're better horses, they aren't often in fear of the competition no matter where they start. It's all relative.