Reduction Factor & Handicapping

[Blondie]

You can store a value as text which would be the selections weight, then create a custom column in the ladder settings editor using the stored value.
You'll probably need to change the font size or colour if you want to make it more noticeable. (That's a 168 in the first one, I clipped too much off)

Thanks , sorry I am new to this. Not sure i understand that. i found the 'additional information' setting, turned that on, and have trainer and jockey name displayed at top of ladders, cool feature! I was wondering if i can somehow (without a lot of complex manual coding/setup) just display the handicap value, assuming there is such a thing? (I thought handicap was extra pounds put on the horse)

It's not so much that extra pounds are on the horse, moreso that one horse is set the highest weight, and other horses are allocated less weight to effectively handicap the favourite as they will carry more weight. Handicaps are restricted to different bands based on the horses official rating to prevent the best of the best racing against the worst of the worst basically.

From the 1.10 Ayr tomorrow you can see the race is restricted to 5 year olds and older, and from a rating of 0 up to 115. Imaginary Dragon has a rating of 115 so gets top weight of 12st. Chumlee only has a rating of 89 which is 26lbs lighter so carries 26lb less at only 10st 2lb.
1.10 Ayr.JPG

The 2.15 Ayr is similar in that the highest rated entry gets top weight, next horse has a rating 8lb lower so carries 8lb less than top weight, next one is 10lb lower so carries 10lb less than top weight.
2.15 Ayr.JPG

The 1.40 Ayr is one of those races that make handicapping difficult without a good degree of automation rules. The rating is 0-100 and top weight is 100 rated. From the form you can see Achnamara won 7 days ago so carries an extra weight penalty (7ex beside the weight) However beside the jockey you see a 5 showing the jockey is an amateur/conditional/non-professional and will reduce the total weight by 5lbs.
Likewise you see runners 3 and 6 have 7lb allowances on their jockeys so they will carry 7lb less than their listed weight so 11st7lb and 11st6lb respectively.
1.41 Ayr.JPG

The handicapping is equally deep and complicated throughout flat, national hunt, and all weather. Some races have a weight allowance for younger horses running against older horses, others have an allowance for female horses running against males, probably other things I can't think of.

The problem with handicapping is you're relying on the trainer/jockey/owners to run their horse true to the best of their ability every time.

A) In mid-grade races a jockey could be instructed to travel safe, make an effort, but don't win or don't win by far if you're gonna win.
B) Alternatively they could be told to keep at the back of the pack and make a push when it's too late.

Result of A could be getting the horses rating increased a bit, but not enough to hamper it with a big weight increase in a bigger (cash) race.
Result of B could be getting the horse looked at as an outsider in a bigger race, so getting bigger prices for a gamble.

So kind of you to explain that so well. It was like going back to school! So much I never had a clue about, now explained brilliantly!
I even now understand why a stable might tell jockeys to 'go easy', as I know that happens but never really understand why. I feel much better informed now, thanks!

One thing you said which I didn't quite get.... "The 1.40 Ayr is one of those races that make handicapping difficult without a good degree of automation rules"
Automation rules? Do you mean in Bet Angel, or in horse racing handicapping circles?

Can I ask you one more question in light of the above...

Would you say it is useful in any way to take handicapping data into account when trying to trade racing markets before the off? If not, I won't bother with this headache, but I had an idea to add it to the information area above ladders (where i have owner and trainer info (more out of my own curiosity of who's running what). Not sure it's worth the hassle. I think I have decided RF isn't worth doing so with. If you do think it's worth it, would I just add 'weight' and have to coimpare those values? I was originally thinking there's a handicap 'value', like "+5lbs" or similar. I now realise that isn't how it works but wondering if the weigh is used by any traders as a bit of extra info to inform a market/trade?