Post-Race Analysis: profit from studying form

THERE is more than one way to skin a cat, so the saying goes, and there's certainly more than one way to study form, especially in the digital age.

One method I have come to rely on more and more over the years is the Racing Post's post-race analysis, which online Members can access at the bottom of the results of just about every race run in Britain and Ireland throughout the year.

If you're in full-time work and that work doesn't involve watching racing for a living, there are few better shortcuts to getting an angle on what happened in a race and, just as importantly, what it means for the future.

For most people there is a finite amount of time available for form study, and watching reruns of events can be time-consuming.

So why not let someone else watch them for you and then tell you about them? Our race-readers are all punters. They know what to look for and they know what is likely to be of interest. They take the time to watch the races again and again and they can spot things that you do not have the time to see, or simply might not see.

One of my favourite examples comes from Barshiba's first attempt at 1m4f in the 2009 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot. Words could not describe how much I despised the mare for going off like a bat out of hell and setting up the race for a closer instead of a prominent racer like Campanologist, my well-thought-out punt who finished second to Bronze Cannon.

Post-race analysis - easily found at the bottom of the results

I wrote off Barshiba as a non-stayer and it wasn't until reading the post-race analysis that I was forced to look again. Our analyst's comment that "she hadn't exactly fallen in a heap" after setting such a scorching pace opened up the possibility that she did get the trip, although you could be certain few would agree if she ran over it again.

Two weeks later Barshiba showed up in the 1m4f Lancashire Oaks at Haydock, against much weaker opposition than at Ascot but as a morning 25-1 shot. She went off at 12-1 and never saw another rival.

Had I not read the Hardwicke analysis I'd have missed a juicy winner. Many more have followed since and this is a service I cannot recommendhighly enough. 

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