ADDING PHYSICALITY TO YOUR DAILY HANDICAPPING VIA THE RACETRACK FEED-----Part 2 by Joe Takach

Assuming that you have “muted” the talking heads on your racetrack feed, we’ll begin with the addition and deletion of front wraps.
If you’re considering “physicality handicapping” for the first time in your horseplaying career, this is the easiest place to begin simply because front wraps are readily visible in any post parade.
Front wraps come in a multitude of colors and are located from just below the knee to the bottom of the ankle.
Equibase does an okay job in gathering this information for redistribution in all past performances that you might use from the hardcopy version of the Daily Racing Form to an on line version such as Post Time Solutions (ITS).
However a caveat is in order.
It is not at all uncommon for Equibase employees to miss the addition and deletion of front wraps when the wraps are black in color. One can only assume that the person on the Equibase staff responsible for this extremely important piece of information fails to visit the paddock for each and every race, or fails to use binoculars from their “comfy” armchair in the press box.
Some trainers always use black front wraps in Southern California, yet they are missed 100% of the time by the Equibase staff if the horse in question is a bay or is black or dark brown in color. Unless you’re close up and on top of a horse in the paddock or use binoculars from the press box, these wraps are very easy to miss on dark-coated horses! They are also tough to see via a racetrack feed unless the picture is very “crisp”.
If black front wraps are being missed on the major Southern California circuit at Del Mar, Santa Anita and Hollywood Park, it is happening elsewhere as well to include your own circuit!
Why are front wraps employed?
Long front leg bandages imply tendon and/or ankle problems either real or imagined.
Many trainers tape every claiming horse that they run to make other trainers “think twice” before dropping a claim slip on their runner. In other words, it’s similar to bluffing in poker. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the horse to warrant those front bandages. If the trainer can imply tendon and/or ankle problems, it’s a cheap insurance policy that almost guarantees that he’ll still be the trainer of the horse after the race has concluded.
Sometimes it is easy to scare off potential “claimaways”, especially the higher up the claiming ladder you go! In bottom-feeding claiming races and in the minor leagues, it is not at all uncommon to see 90% of the field running in front wraps, but they most likely need them.
I can’t possibly see how front leg bandages really help or hurt any horse, but they do extend their “shelf life”. Understand that the front bandages do nothing to correct a tendon or ankle problem, most of which are irreversible. They only offer support and by doing so, allow the runner in question to race a few more times in his career than he could sans the wraps.
As mentioned above, front wraps don’t actually help or hurt any runner.
If he’s basically racing sound, they won’t stop him from winning unless the track is muddy. Mud could cling to the bandages making his legs heavier and slightly harder to lift with every stride.
If he’s unsound, the wraps won’t stop him from bowing a tendon or injuring an ankle.
If front wraps could perform that “magic”, all horses would race in front wraps in every lifetime start and there would never again be another bowed tendon or enlarged ankle or an on-track breakdown!
Of course we know that isn’t reality and horses will continue to “bow” or injure ankles and break down even if you make them look like “mummies”!
Do horses ever win with front wraps?
Sure they do and at every racetrack every single day!
Okay, so why even mention them?
Simply because the addition of front wraps can never be seen as a plus!
The trainer using them is broadcasting a problem (unless he’s faking so as not to lose the horse via the claim box). While they might add some support to the damaged or problematic area and delay the inevitable breakdown, front wraps will never stop it!
Again, so why am I even mentioning them?
Because there are a few things you should look for.
Since my DAILY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HORSES TO WATCH tracks all horses adding and deleting front wraps to include the hard to see “black” ones (because we’re literally in the paddock and 6 feet from every horse when they walk by), I know who should and shouldn’t be in front wraps this afternoon long before I walk into the paddock.
I suggest you use your track program to mark all front wraps next to the name of every runner listed in the past performances who last ran in them.
A simplistic letter “F” will do. This way when you get your racetrack feed in the paddock and/or post parade, you’re not fumbling with the past performances looking up wraps and missing the next horse in the very rapid procession.
Here’s how I personally handle the addition and deletion of front wraps.
If a horse has won with front wraps in the past, he’ll most likely win with them in the future until his problem worsens and forces him down to the bottom claiming level, to the minor leagues, or to retirement.
Old front wraps have never bothered me though I always look at every wrapped horse to see if the problem is getting worse. If the horse in question passes “muster” in every other category of readiness in the paddock and the problem is “status quo”, a wager is possible if he warms up strongly in the pre-race and was my selection before I walked into the paddock.
What bothers me is first-time front wraps or the re-adding of front wraps.
If you are in the paddock and see a horse show up with front wraps for the 1st time, look to see if one ankle appears bigger than the other. Or perhaps the back of his front tendon is beginning to or has already “bowed”. Bowed tendons are a bit more difficult to see, but clearly visible.
Unless the trainer is “bluffing” and very few do on my sunny Southern California circuit, you’ll most likely see swelling somewhere under the wrapping. If you do, it is better to pass the race if this newly front-wrapped horse was your pre-race betting choice----it costs absolutely nothing to pass a race!
So if you’re not on track and only get a 5 to 10 second “glimpse” via your racetrack feed, whudda ya do?
If you have your program pre-marked as I suggested above, you have to assume that first time front wraps or the re-adding of front wraps are not a good thing.
In closing, bandages on the rear legs are used to protect horses who have the problem of “running down”. These horses scrape the back part of their rear ankles when racing.
These rear wraps serve as protection to the skin when running over sandy surfaces.
As long as there is no swelling evident, rear wraps would never stop me from betting a horse if he looked physically correct in every other respect.

PART 3-----Energy levels

© Joe Takach 2007