Good Lord, what's wrong with us hotshot handicappers? We forgot "bumped"...

Bolted


Freddy

Ducked, Swerved, Steadied, Altered, Angled, Sluggish start, jumped.

And what if the horse had trouble and ran well anyway? Would that not be a paceline to use?

Why would showed little or showed nothing or through after be troubled lines?

IMO, the paceline selection is the foundation of handicapping, regardless of the program or mehtod.This is how you select your contenders. Get it wrong and all calculations from that point on for that horse will not be a true indicator.

Freddy

If the paceline is good I'll use it even if the trouble line says "victim of nuclear attack" - but, if the horse throws in a poor race in a situtation where he has done well in the past, I'd like to know if there's an excuse or if there's a form reversal starting. We all have our inexplicable ups and downs - all I have to do is look at my golf scores to see it

Rather than Trouble lines, I refered to them as "excuses". The algorithm that picks the pacelines uses these "excuses" in the comment line as a weighted factor, not the be-all, end-all. Showed Little, Showed Nothing, I look at as possible excuses - and typically good ones since such lines will often turn away betters. Of course, there's no assurance that the horse will show anything in the upcoming race. I like being optimistic if the horse is going off at good odds, and pessimistic otherwise