By Ralph the Cat

 We all strive to be successful handicappers.  I have to laugh each time I hear these peculiar handicappers say “handicapping is an art” or “handicapping is a science”.  I often think they’re just trying to get in touch with their intellectual side when they make those statements.  Yes, I’m sure there’s science and art involved in handicapping, but last I checked, science can’t measure the unpredictable, and how ever you want to define art as, there’s no one on the planet that has mastered the “art” of handicapping.  If you want to define art as a “craft” or a “trait” then go for it, but a craft or a trait is usually something one can master. 

The newest one I heard was that handicapping is a philosophy.  Last I checked the philosophy of something has a set laws that can prove it.  The only law of handicapping is that no matter what the outcome of the race is, someone’s going to be pissed. 

 If anything, handicapping is a hit and miss based on theory, a proposed methodology with an unverified explanation.  

 One mans theory of handicapping utilizes a methodology of figures, Beyer figures.  Beyer figures have led more blind players astray then any factor in horses racing.  Super-trainers, jockeys, crooked connections, vets, none of them add up to the amount of mislead bets than that of Beyer figures.  Beyer figures are the single most misleading bit of information in American racing. 

 When one handicapper even remotely suggests Beyer figures are misleading or not worth a nickel, one is subject to “you don’t know how to use them”.  The claim is that when used properly, you can employ them in a useful manner and that those that doubt them don’t know how to use them properly or fail to understand the core concepts of them.  This might be the biggest bullshit in the handicapping world.  One thing that I’m confident I could predict is that Andy Beyer will not come close to picking this year’s Kentucky Derby winner, just like that last decade or more.  If the man that created the “Beyer Figures” can’t utilize the numbers to churn a profit or suggest winners, then why believe they are “a large part of successful handicappers”.  The truth of the matter is, they are the most overrated bit of handicapping information known to man.  They have led more bettors astray and caused heavy money to go in the wrong direction because of one concept, it’s a methodology based on science, math and human opinion.  A Beyer number suggests nothing but one mans opinion of a race based on information he chose to use.  One can only suggest that his numbers are used far more than they need to be.  I can’t help but think, the ability to read and digest the information from a past performance is becoming a lost line of attack.

 Beyer figures, credible? Sure, one mans methodology based on opinion is always credible. 

 Ya, and I’m a cat