in Triple Crown Articles

With the wealth of handicapping information available today, it can be hard to find an edge when playing the ponies. One area where you might be able to get a leg up on your fellow horseplayers is evaluating shippers.

When a horse ships into Oaklawn Park, it can sometimes be tricky evaluating how the shipper will stack up against the locals.

Most handicappers will compare class levels and speed figures to try and come up with the answer, and that is a good way to start. Some past performances have class ratings to go along with speed figures, and that is a good way to compare the abilities of a horse shipping into a new track.

There are a couple of other factors that can be looked at that are not used by as many horseplayers. Track programs and basic past performances downloaded off the Internet usually do not include shipping statistics.

One angle to look at is how horses from a particular track do when shipping in. This can be very important early at a meeting, as you might be able to pick up on a trend before most other horseplayers do.

When I was preparing to handicap for the Saratoga 2006 meeting, I wanted to be fully informed. Where would the winners be coming from? This meeting brings horses from all over the country and you sometimes have to try and make sense of a race in which horses are coming in from a half a dozen different circuits.

To accumulate this data, you can go through the previous years charts and tabulate the results yourself, or there are guides you can purchase such as Track Stats, which is available at brisnet.com.

If we look at horses that last raced out of state we can pick up on some interesting results.

Horses from some of the minor circuits struggled mightily when shipping to the Spa in 2005:

Suffolk Downs shippers : 1 for 23

Mountaineer Park shippers: 0 for 7

Charles Town shippers: 0 for 3

Pimlico shippers: 1 for 12

No surprise, playing horses from these circuits produced a flat bet loss, with just two winners from 45 starters.

Were there any circuits where a profit could be found? Florida shippers produced a flat bet profit winning 11 races from 55 starters. Surprisingly, shippers from Gulfstream Park netted a better ROI (+0.85) than Calder (-0.35).

Also in the black were shippers from Ellis Park (2 for 9, +2.22) and Lone Star (2 for 8, +1.50) although those samples are small.

Another angle to take a look at is how specific trainers do with shippers. These stats are not so readily available, and an astute handicapper may want to invest some time in compiling them.

These stats are available to Daily Racing Form Formulator users. With the software (available at drf.com) you can sort out many different trainer angles.

Let's take a look at the numbers when hall of fame trainer Bill Mott ships a horse to Tampa Bay Downs. Over the past three years he has sent in 33 starters and picked up 10 winners (30%). 23 of the 30 finished in the money. Knowing those stats, it would be wise to take a hard look at any horses Mott ships into Tampa.

Wayne Catalano is one of the so called "Super Trainers", hitting at a high percentage with his starters every year.

Let's take a look at his stats at the current Gulfstream Park meeting. Through February 25, the trainer is just 1 for 11 with horses shipping in from other tracks. Seven of those horses lost at odds of 5/2 or less. At least so far at the meeting, it's a good idea to stay away from horses from his barn making their first start at Gulfstream Park at the meeting.

But, do note: his horses tend to show improvement in their second start at the meeting. Another good angle to know.

These are just a couple of examples of using data that most other horseplayers do not have. Compiling this data (or purchasing it) and keeping notes can give you a decided edge over your fellow horseplayers and is a good way to pad your bankroll.

horse betting action.