Sparky,

Chrome is right, I do pay a lot of attention to running style and barriers but only on a race by race form study approach. It would be a can of worms though to work it all into a handy spreadsheet of stats, though I'm sure some stats could be produced by anyone good at doing that sort of stuff [not me as my brain just isn't wired for it].

Tracks would be a problem. Take Gawler for example: A constant turning track with a short straight. Not good for backmarkers at all, but great for leaders and on-pacers. Ditto for Ipswich with it's short and uphill straight. It goes on and on with some tracks suiting some horse's running style but not others. Throw in race pace, rail position, field size, barrier positions, track conditions on the day etc. etc. on top of all that and there's your can of worms. You'd end up with individual horses that have 20 different ratings for 20 different race scenarios each horse might encounter.

I'm sure though that some main info. could be noted for a spreadsheet. A 'T' in the formline would be a big help with the track [the horse handles it] and so would knowing the running style of a horse [position at turn?], and what pace of race that would suit. Also, what pace is this race going to be [if only one or no leaders it will be slow, so forget backmarkers]? Leaders and on-pacers generally benefit from inside half of the barriers [less work to get up near the lead], while backmarkers like b1,2 or outside barriers so they can get back safely and easily. I'm sure you can work out other main bits of info. to include in a spreadsheet without too much trouble.