Mall,

I don't disagree with anything there. I always factor in ground likely saved, lost etc. in every race where I think that may be a factor. That is not statistics, that is just basic handicapping.

It is also true that there are times that trainer and other angles make some sense to consider. In my post on the other board I was not at all denigrating the inclusion of stats on TG's sheets. I was referring to blind use of certain percentages that are usually the result of a small sample or just a bizarre coincidence. Would you really downgrade a gelding in the Derby if his numbers and pattern made him figure? Was Go For Gin a bad bet in the Derby because he had never won a stakes race? That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about.