'Questions like this are not asked very often' - handicap debutants and sectional timings in the latest Ask The Tipsters

This is the third in a winter-long series in which the Racing Post's top judges answer questions from readers on punting methods and philosophy. Keith Melrose is at the controls for part three, with Tom Segal, Paul Kealy and David Jennings also on hand to aid your punting over the rest of the season.

Got a question for the team? Email us at askthetipsters@racingpost.com and we'll answer more questions in part three in the series, published online to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers on Thursday, December 21 and in the following day's Racing Post newspaper.

How do you work out if a horse making their handicap debut is well in or been given a welter weight?
Colin Hord

This question took me on a bit of a journey. On first reading it came across as the sort of thing I could chew over for hours. Within ten minutes, I'd concluded that for 90 per cent of the way a handicap debutant is interesting for the same reasons as any other horse.