Product Description

Calculating the pace and comparative speed of horses in a race often holds the key to the puzzle of selecting the winner.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #167406 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-25
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From Library Journal
Brohamer used the Sartin methodology of pace handicapping to develop his own technique for handicapping horse races. His system considers running styles, turn times, track variants, energy distribution, and par times in predicting race strategy and outcome. Daily Racing Form charts (not seen) illustrate the book. Brohamer relies on a hand-held calculator to compound ratings and generate energy percentages, something that may scare away weekend handicappers unwilling to devote hours to mathematical figuring and Form chartkeeping. Recommended for serious handicappers and libraries with strong racing collections.
- Susan Hamburger, Vir ginia State Lib. & Archives, Richmond
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Interesting but too complex
The concept of turn time is very interesting and very ingenious but implementing the Brohamer method is too complex and time consuming. I'm sticking to the Taulbot and Ainslie's methods of pace evaluation.

Extremely poor writing and editing.
I've read a few books of all kinds. "Modern Pace Handicapping" is one of the worst, frankly, which makes it definitely the worst racing-related book I've ever read. It's particularly sad when it is supposed to be teaching you something and not just narrating a story. I understand the concept of pace handicapping, but the nuts and bolts hardly fit together in this work. I'm surprised I got any theory out of this book at all. It is truly one of the most poorly written/edited/formatted/arranged books I've run across.

It is shocking this book gets so many rave reviews. "MPH" is so badly written I can only assume the people giving it 4+ stars are already well-versed in pace handicapping and skipped over all the incomprehensible stuff and the myriad mistakes and horrible copies.

If I wanted to spend more time I could give specific examples by leafing any given page in the book. However, I'll just sum up by saying this book was riddled with:

-typos;
-chopped-off paragraphs (turn the page - what happened?);
-confusing mish-mash of decimal system proper, and using decimal notation to represent FIFTHS (i.e., 1:35.3 = 1:35-3/5 in one section, and in another it represents exactly what it looks like to an engineer like myself - 1:35-3/10);
-many extremely poor (completely illegible, high-bleed) copies of old race charts;
-poor math-checking - both of equation form and of results in examples;
-disconnected charts to text (text discussion on page X, charts were on page X-5, etc);
-poor explanation of either general theory, methods or examples - especially - WHY SHOULD I PICK THIS OR THAT RACE AS A TYPICAL PACELINE? Author acts as if it is so obvious and simply states "this should be the paceline" too many times.

I could probably go on; I always manage to find a new glitch when I recommence reading. There are so many categories of problems that I cannot keep track of them all.

I'm not sure if "Modern Pace Handicapping" is so poorly edited and explained that I find it hard to pick UP (as opposed to "hard to put down!"), or if I can really say the narrative style itself is so dry as to have made me take 2 years to read it on casual time. (Not finished yet - a few more chapters, which may mean another 6 months.) I have started and finished a couple other books on casual time in that period! It is almost with dread that I attempt again. I give it a 2 only because I could actually get the general idea from MPH. I think I could handle calculations, but I'm still confused as to why a particular race in the past-performances is good to use as a predictor for the future race analysis.

The Andrew Beyer books are based on a different concept, but despite involving math and what could be a dry subject, they were definitely better written and MUCH better edited (and as with this subject, I knew little about it when beginning but was curious)!

Very Satisfied
At only page 13, I achieved my objective. I bougth this book to
attain and incorporate into my Handicapping game, a scientific
method of Pace Analysis. In the earliest pages of the book, I
found what I was looking for. That is; in races where there is
more than one "Front Runner," proven methods of Pace Analysis
can provide the corroboration needed to make my selection with
confidence. Also, in sprint races where horses are commonly
running half mile times of 47 and 48 and even 49, on the local
surface, and other horses coming in from out of town, and
entered against said locals, are bringing 44 3/5 half mile times,
intuitive reasoning based on 30 years experience is not enough
and is in fact inadequate. I now have now solved the last flaw
in my handicapping game. I strongly recommend this book to all
serious players! The math is far simplier than I initially
thought it would be! I am extremely satisfied!!!