Harness Racing Tips for Handicapping the Big Horse on a Small Track

Harness Racing Tips for Handicapping the Big Horse on a Small Track

When handicapping harness races, few people ever consider the size of the horse when trying to pick a winner, but a good tip is to look at stride length. But believe it or not, size does matter on the harness track. That is especially true when a runner pacer or trotter has to negotiate turns. A good handicapper I used to know used to say that the turns are the great equalizer in harness racing. He meant that a smaller horse could benefit from the turns while a larger horse did better in the stretch.

In other words, while a big horse with a good stride can motor at top speed in the stretch, the real agility and athleticism of the horse comes out in the turn where a smaller animal may actually have the advantage. That is why the switch from a two turn event to a four turn event can have such a big effect.

As a handicapper, what you want to look for is the horse who is switching tracks. The best way to determine if the pacer or trotter will improve, based on the track, is to look at how big the horse is compared to the others. But it doesn't stop there because what you really need to know about is stride length.

The length of a runner's stride has a big impact on how it will handle turns. Overall, it is easier or a horse with a shorter stride to race through a tight turn. The longer the stride, the better the horse is in the open, in the stretch. While these are just generalizations and you still have to consider many other handicapping factors like, post position, driver, and of course, the actual speed of the horse, this is a good handicapping tip.

Before the race with the horse that is shipping in from a track with a different distance, look at the horse and see how big it is and look at how the hopples are set. See if you can determine the actual stride length of the runner. This takes practice, but think about how important the stride of a horse is and you'll want to add this to your handicapping bag of tricks.

On a big track with just two turns, you want a horse with a long stride. Horse's with the longest strides are generally faster and tire less because they are taking fewer steps to cover the same ground. It has to do with the length of the animal's legs and other factors but stride length is very important when rating a shipper. A horse with a short stride may improve when moving from two turns to four turns while the opposite is true of a larger horse with a long stride.

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