Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-14
STUDYING THE
RACING CHARTS
Science of Handicapping Per-
haps the Most Interesting
in the Horse Game.

"Of the many wrinkles twists and kinks
| In the horse game" said a well-known
| local sporting man to a Star reporter.
| land from the many angles from which
| 1t may be viewed and studied. both on
| the track and in burning the midnight oil
l ,ver the racing charts. perhaps what is
| known as 'handcapping' is the most en-
| tertaining
Now that the fall season of the Benning
| meeting will shortly open. and horses are
| already arriving at the track to part ci-
| pate therein. with to follow each
week until the very last day before the
gates are thrown upen to the public. in
terest In this branch of outdoor sports will
| take a revival in the capital, where
both the spring and the fall meetings of
| the Washington Jockey Club are well at
tended by citizens and outsiders alike.
THE local handicappers therefore. both
amateur and those who have been up
longer against the game, are beginning
to get busy. and in the resorts along Penn
sylvania avenue and Newspaper Row fire.
quented by the local and the visiting sports
interested in the running of the ponies
all you will hear in a short time will be
horse talk. while the dfferences of opin-
lon as to the relative merits OF particular
horses will be as frreconcilable as are the
views of different men upon politics.
And 1t IL here that the Handicapped,
especially those who approach the game
from the more scientific angles Of figures.
time. weight on and of. past performances.
jockies, etc. gets In his work and treats
with scorn the views OF the inside informa-
ton player. just as the latter r.dicules the
results attained by the former as mere
dreams and fancies.
What "Handicapping" Means.
l. tv,
sporting vocabulary as applied to horses
which is less understood and more often
misconstrued than Handicapped unless it
Is class as applied to a horses form.
AZ to each Of these terms you will not
find three out q score Of men. even those
experienced in the business. who Will agree.
The average man in the rank and file of
horse followers may be said to be sur
prisingly ignorant. and often iiliterate. fell
low; 1t is his galvanized gall that pulls him
through the season.
THE ofhciai Handicapped OF the Eastern
Jockey Association. Mr. Vosburg, is the
recognized authority in this country upon
this difficult matter of assigning weights
in the handicap events so that all of the
high-class horses entered therein will run
as nearly q theoretically dead heat as
mans Judgment and the lead pads under
horse will carry top weight. say. 126
pounds, and the lowest weighted horse In
the race may carry only IS pounds accord
ing to age and ability. and the official
handicappers judgment of their respective
merits
But my remarks in this talk are en-
tireiy directed to those who follow the
game from the ground men who do their
own work and who figure out from the
past performances according to various
methods full handicap of each race of the
day, assigning the horse which figures first
or highest as the first selection, then the
ovf hpS Ser0ndl and the third In DOiDt
of relative figures finish ng the race. as
few handieappers make a fourth selection
In a race. These selections are not played
as placed-one. two and three-but are used
in case Of the scratching of the entries.
the second horse taking the place of the
first In this event and the third the place
of the second
Pittsburg Phil's Idea.
There are hundreds Of methods Of So
called handicapping on the market. as there
are systems but most Of them are theo-
retica1 and poor. and even the best have
or develop such weaknesses when they are
actually tried with the money up and the
player at the track that few men can stand
the bad streaks they all show sooner or
later.
Nevertheless many bettors are success
full hand cappers. usually working on some
well-defined line Of time. weight on and of
and track conditions. which their keenness
observation, education and practical expe-
rience at the game have enabled them to
apply to their own particular instance, for
one man can use to advantage q method
where another man would iamentably fall
In its application.
These successful men in the horse game.
therefore. and there are many OF them.
have learned one or two practical things
about 1t or have applied certain OF the
welI-understood rules regarding IT to
successful issue. for there Is nothing new
about it and It Is just the same In general
principles now as It was a dozen years ago
'It is amusing to the initiated to hear
men talk about the methods used by the
late George E. Smith. better known as
Pittsburg Phil One man Will assert that
he was scientific Handicapped, thoroughly
understanding the underlying scientific
principles Of the game. VIII lie another VIII
declare that the celebrated plunger scorned
such stuff and relied entirely upon large
forcs of checkers and confidential inside
men, who dug him up stable secrets, ETC.,
ad nauseam.
Handicapping Against Workouts.
Whatever method. IL any. Mr.. Smith
used in his successful carer on the turf.
he never revealed, though have always
believed that he was q scientific handi-
capper as against an inside information
man, for it has been proved to the salts
faction Of some who have studied the mat
ter closely that the two methods OF tudG-
ing OF the relative merits OF horses con-
ffict, and It IL seldom that they can be
reconciled and united successfully for this
reason.
"Inssmuch as the plunser. when youth.
first began his play while working a.
cork cutter La q PfttSburg factOry-henee
his sobFiquee-anA made his first piays Ia
hand books and pool rooms. away from the
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