if you are reading this on the DRF website, there is a good chance that you don't need to learn the basics of handicapping a harness racing (If you do, here is a good place to start). With that in mind, this column seeks to reveal my personal method for going through a Standardbred race from start to finish. Everything begins with three simple steps and evolves from there: Trainer: Every session of handicapping starts with a review of who is training the horse today and who trained the horse in the previous three starts. This information is always available in the DRF Harness Eye Past Performances and some other formats include it as well. Here I'm looking to notate any changes whether it is a positive or a negative. I want a clear mark on my program so it is easily visible if a change occurred. Medication: In most states we are just dealing with Lasix (and in some states even that has been banned). Again, like with trainers, we are looking for anything that has changed in recent weeks. So if the horse is adding or removing Lasix, I notate it. Conditions: Some past performance programs will include arrows pointing up or down to indicate whether a horse is moving up or down in class. These are basically inaccurate and useless in most cases and I always mark up the program with my own determination of class. A single arrow is used for a one-class move and a double for a multiple-class shift. While most people can probably scan the program quickly and remember these class changes, I prefer the arrows because I'll often handicap days or hours before I make a bet and having a marked-up program could key me into a value horse when the odds are live that I otherwise would miss. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter You'll quickly notice that each of the steps above are designed to uncover "what is different?" from the previous weeks. I'm looking for angles, basically reasons why any horse in the race could show improvement or regression. Next up for me is speed. I'll do a quick scan of each horse and determine whether they are fast enough to compete for win or an exotic spot. Basically the question I'm asking in my head is: "Can this horse win if things go right?" If the answer is no, there is no reason to continue studying this horse any further. If the answer is yes, this horse may be a viable play depending on the odds. At this point I'm also going to bring in the above factors and determine whether any of the changes will make one of the horses faster. I may also consider driver changes as well here, but that is not an angle I like to harp on because major driver changes tend to mean short prices, and in many cases unwarranted underlays. Lateral moves are more interesting since they don't affect the odds but can move a horse up. We should've eliminated some of the horses in the field and can now start to think about pace scenarios. This is especially important on smaller tracks where speed can be even more dominant, but quality horses with early speed win the majority of races regardless of location. The goal here is to guesstimate which horses "could" be in a position to win. For me those trips include "on the lead," "in the pocket (second behind the leader)," and first- or second-over (first or second horse on the outside). Of course on a seven-eighths or mile track we might be able to expand to "third on the inside" or "third-over," but even there those trips don't win often enough to warrant serious attention. Now that we have a few horses which appear to be the major contenders, the next step is to determine which of these horses will offer the best value. This is sometimes easier said than done, especially in an age where the morning line is often grossly inaccurate. Too often at Harness tracks 12-1 morning lines go off at 3-5, so don't use that as your guide. You need to use your experience and be honest with yourself. There will be plenty of time to alter these opinions with more factual data as post time nears. As with Thoroughbred handicapping, you get out of it what you put in. Watching replays is a great tool to help find "troubled" trips or little hints of form which won't show up in the PP lines. If after completing the above steps I still have questions, this is when I'll pull up some replays. At this point I'm ready to make a bet, but that is a different column entirely. The relationship between being a good handicapper and winning bettor is not as symbiotic as most people think. There are many more great handicappers than great bettors. Just like in Thoroughbred racing, ideally you want to play the horse with the best chance of winning at the best possible price, but with Harness I'd throw in the best possible horse likely to get a decent trip at the best price. Quite frankly, you can spend seconds, minutes or hours handicapping a race and I've done all three. Some of my best handicapping has been done with just two minutes to spare, mainly because the focus tends to be which horse can win at the best price. You won't cash as many tickets with this method but the ones you do cash will likely be more meaningful. In the end, handicapping a Thoroughbred race is very similar to Standardbred. Sure, the fractional calls and trips differ, but it is simply about coming to a conclusion as to why a horse can win and backing that opinion up with your money. Now go crush at the virtual ADW windows!