Handicapping Speed: The Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse Sprinters [Paperback]

Charles Carroll (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996

A revolutionary look at the theory behind speed handicapping.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

More than any other form of gambling, horse racing has a dream to fit every imagination. From the great Thoroughbred farms of Kentucky to the backyard breeders across the country, and from the $2 bettors on the rail to the exclusive glass booths in the grandstand canopy, each mind is filled with hope. The dreams are so varied that they often have little in common, except that they have horses at their center. In horse racing, any realistic dream is a little more attainable. The realistic dreams are those in the middle of the spectrum. Pick-Six bets and picking a Kentucky Derby winner out of a pen of yearlings are off opposite ends of the scale. For serious handicappers and serious horse owners, racing provides attainable goals. Both are in search of speed. As Handicapping Speed looks at each factor, from the industry in general to the finest details of the mathematics of time, it will be for the purpose of finding what adds and detracts from speed. (6 X 9, 240 pages, b&w photos, diagrams, charts)

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558214976
• ISBN-13: 978-1558214972
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,452,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A worthy addition to the library, April 28, 2000

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Handicapping Speed: The Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse Sprinters (Paperback)

...Someone has finally taken the next logical step beyond thecanonical work of Andrew Beyer, 1975's _Picking Winners_, and given usthe next step in looking at speed handicapping. Which is good, because of all the types of handicapping out there, Beyer's is the one that the public seized on, and it's since become so popular that Beyer's figures are published in the Daily Racing Form, and are so deadly accurate in most cases that those races which can be unlocked through their application have become unprofitable. Carroll gives us another way of looking at speed, a new take on velocity that turns the work of Broahmer and Sartin on its head, and in doing so takes the many complex calculations of _Modern Pace Handicapping_ and instead substitutes the kind of one-number handicapping ease that the crowd loves. Does it work? I don't know, I have a whole lot of fact-checking to do before i go endorsing Carroll's methods and theories. But as a book, it's a pretty good one. Carroll doesn't go over the same old racing history as most books, but instead gives us background information that we haven't seen before-- the various schools of handicapping, how the money flows, and most notably conformation, something many handicapping books steer far clear of. Most of it has nothing to do with handicapping speed, but any knowledge a player can get is knowledge he can put to use, if he knows how. A worthwhile addition to the shelf of the horseplayer, and if it works, it becomes the sixth book in the canon.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read on the dynamics of early speed, April 10, 2007

By 

R. V. McBrayer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handicapping Speed: The Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse Sprinters (Paperback)

Charles Carroll knows his subject and knows how to communicate. Written in 1991, the book contains excellent insights and is a good read. It is unfortunate that neither the body of the book nor the appendix contains adequate information concerning the results of his study of the initial segment of Quarter Horse races; especially the 50 yard times that are referenced but not quantififed.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just OK, November 21, 2007

By 

David Bridgforth (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Handicapping Speed: The Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse Sprinters (Paperback)

I always enjoy reading handicapping books and try to take at least one idea from each that I can use in my handicapping methodology. This just didn't give me that. I don't play quarter horses, so maybe that's where this is useful, but basically this is just another way to calculate speed figures, but the process is more simplistic than even the published figures. Bottom line- I enjoyed the read, but I don't think there is anything I can use to improve my handicapping.