Trainers' pre-race comments (1822 Views)

One handicapping tool I've found somewhat useful is trainers' comments, as published in articles in the DRF and also on many tracks' websites, concerning their entrants' chances going into a race. For example, before the Las Virgenes, Baffert said something like, "We haven't been working her [Habibti] too hard because she lost weight since her last and hasn't been able to put any weight back on". These comments are most useful when trying to gage a horse's fitness coming off a layoff. Often I'll read things like, "We wanted to start him in a X distance or Y class race, but there was nothing available, and we had to start somewhere."