Do you think you’re a pretty sharp horse racing handicapper? Let me ask you a question, did the last horse that you bet on have a shadow roll on?  Did it have a tongue tie?  Was it wearing front wraps?  Do you know how important each one of those pieces of equipment is to a horse’s performance?  If you can’t answer that question, you’re missing the boat, big time.

Horse racing handicapping is a demanding intellectual sport that can be profitable, but only for a very few.  The way a few people manage to be successful while so many others fail is by paying attention to the little things, keeping notes, and being more observant.  The addition of a tongue tie can make a horse that was falling apart in the stretch in its previous races, sprint down the stretch to victory.

Front wraps are often an indication of an unsound horse, a horse with sore forelegs.  How that horse will perform will depend upon certain factors such as the softness of the surface it is racing on.  A good horse that is trying to overcome soreness in its forelegs may perform well on a soft turf course or a cushioned track.  So if you see a horse that had a sudden reversal of form, probably due to lameness, that is now sporting front wraps and moving to a softer surface, it may be one to bet on.

On the other hand, if you see front wraps and they weren’t there before, that is a bad sign.  How often do you make a note of when a horse is wearing front wraps for the first time?  Do you know what a shadow roll is and why horses wear them?  If you see a horse raced erratically in the stretch or has a line that says, “Jumped shadow,” then that is why it is wearing that shadow roll.  The shadow roll may help it to maintain a sustained drive in the stretch rather than doing the cha cha to avoid a shadow.

The point is that if you asked 100 people who had just watched a race if the winner was wearing blinkers, a shadow roll, front wraps, a tongue tie, a Cornell collar, or a hood that covered its ears, probably 99 of them wouldn’t be able to tell you.  Each one of those pieces of equipment is important and noticing if they have been added and knowing what effect that will have upon a horse is often the difference between winning and losing for professional handicappers.