Valuable Systems, Angles and Spot Plays to Beat the Quarter Horse Races

By Ken Osterman

Quarter Horse racing may seem difficult to handicap, especially for those who are accustomed to thoroughbred handicapping, but in this book by Las Vegas based handicapper Ken Osterman, the difficulty melts away. Inside this book are a variety of approaches to quarter horse handicapping systems, angles and spot plays that are both clever and innovative.

 

The rules of the handicapping angles in this book are clearly explained and easy to use.

 

Included in this book are:

 

An in-depth approach to handicapping maiden claiming races.

 

The best way to compute class for two and three year old races.

 

A unique class rating for older horses that are uses with several of these angles.

 

A parallel time chart to aid in comparing final times at different distances.

 

Most of these systems are for picking winners on the straightaway, but there are two separate systems for 870 yard races: one for winners and one for maiden races.

 

All you need to use this book are the past performances, and with a few of these angles, perhaps a simple calculator.

 

These angles have been shown to be effective at all of the major quarter horse tracks in the United States.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Teela Books
• Release date: Mar 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393787372

Book preview

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Hidden Speed Horse Angle

The Quarter Horse Speed Index Method

A Quarter Horse Elimination Method

The Speed and Class Method

The Maiden Claiming Method

Winning Around the Turn

Experience Counts - An 870 Yard Maiden Method

Tote Board Magic

Tote Board Magic II

Conclusion

Appendix

The Quarter Horse Class Rating

Parallel Time Charts

Introduction

Information on how to pick winners for quarter horse racing is limited. There are a couple of good books available from Teela Books Publishing, namely Pure Speed: Handicapping Quarter Horse Racing by Douglass Masters and How to Handicap Quarter Horse Racing by Anthony T. Richards. The first book is technical and written for those who want an advantage by creating their own speed ratings. Although it's a fascinating book, I don't have the time to do this. The latter book has good information on handicapping without using speed ratings. My approach, for the most part, is to simply use the Equibase speed ratings that are now found in the Daily Racing Form. They are also found in Trackmaster past performances, and of course, they are in Equibase past performances.   

All the angles and methods in this book are for races on the straight away at a minimum of 300 yards. There are shorter races that are carded at some tracks; 250 yards is a distance that Prairie  Meadows seems to be fond of, but this distance or others shorter than 300 yards are too short to rule out much of the luck involved. There are two methods that are exclusively for 870 yard races around the turn: one for winners and one for maidens.

Some of these angles require a way of converting one distance to another. For this I have included a good parallel time chart. This appears in the book Pure Speed: Handicapping Quarter Horse Racing by Douglass Masters. It is reprinted with permission from the same publisher of my books: Teela Books Publishing.

The Hidden Speed Horse Angle

Author's note:

The next two angles, The Hidden Speed Horse Angle and The Quarter Horse Speed Index Method, are older systems that I have included in this book. They were originally included in one of my early books on handicapping horse racing. At the time I created and used these systems at the race books in Las Vegas, I was using the speed index number listed in the Daily Racing Form. Since the more accurate, Equibase speed figures are now included in the past performance lines for quarter horses, I have used them ever since. Although you can experiment with both, I would recommend the Equibase numbers. They are better and can be used with more confidence comparing different tracks and distances. 

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