Thoroughbred Owner Conference Series Continues with Discussion on Handicapping for Racehorse Owners
The Jockey Club Press Release
LEXINGTON, Ky.—On Tuesday, April 4, OwnerView hosted the third panel in its Virtual Thoroughbred Owner Conference series to provide information about the intricacies of handicapping as an owner.
The conference is hosted by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and sponsored by Bessemer Trust, Stoll Keenon Ogden, and The Green Group. This panel was sponsored by Breeders’ Cup, the Daily Racing Form, and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association.
The panel was composed of expert handicappers Jim Goodman, director of wagering development at Keeneland; Kaitlin Free, reporter and analyst for Churchill Downs; Tom Leach, handicapper and voice of the Kentucky Wildcats; and Ellis Starr, national racing analyst for Equibase. Gary Falter, project manager for OwnerView, hosted the discussion. Attendees were able to ask questions through Zoom’s Q&A feature, and questions were answered at the middle and end of the webinar.
Goodman, Free, Leach, and Starr discussed topics such as strategy in reading past performances, handicapping horses to claim, the importance of jockey/trainer duos, how the weight a horse carries should factor into handicapping, and the importance of pedigree when assessing maiden races, among other topics.
“When identifying the key criteria that shouldn’t be overlooked when handicapping a race, it really comes down to what you think is representative in the horse’s past that is similar to today,” said Starr. “For me, that is distance, surface, class, jockey, and trainer.”
“Look for patterns,” Leach said. “We’re all looking at the same past performances, but it’s about what you see in them. Maybe their talent has been masked by poor post positions or bad trips, and if you go back in their record, you can see if the horse has shown some ability, but he or she just hasn’t had a chance to showcase it as much lately due to circumstances.”
A replay of the conference can be viewed here: bit.ly/3MCJPYD.
Eight additional Thoroughbred Owner Conference virtual panels are scheduled for 2023.
The next session will be held May 9 at 2 p.m. ET and will cover what goes into a racehorse ownership business plan. A full schedule can be found here: bit.ly/OVSchedule.
There is no registration fee for the virtual conference series, but registration is required. For more information about the owner conference, please visit ownerview.com/event/conference or contact Gary Falter at 859.224.2803 or gfalter@jockeyclub.com.
OwnerView is a joint effort spearheaded by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to encourage ownership of Thoroughbreds and provide accurate information on aspects of ownership such as trainers, public racing syndicates, the process of purchasing and owning a Thoroughbred, racehorse retirement, and owner licensing.
The need for a central resource to encourage Thoroughbred ownership was identified in the comprehensive economic study of the sport that was commissioned by The Jockey Club and conducted by McKinsey & Company in 2011. The OwnerView site was launched in May 2012.
