Personally, I believe coming to terms with 'Pace' and understanding it on a whole of race basis, concerning an individual runner's pace requirements, is one of the last frontiers ventured into by most punters. It's also the most profitable area for deciding when a horse is likely to win and when it won't.

If a punter doesn't don't know what pace a race is going to be run at and even worse, what type of pace suits their race selection, that punter is relying on little more than favorable luck [regardless of other form study] in trying to make a quid from a race's outcome.