Hi Researcher,
The American guru on pace is probably Beyer, an east coast journo, who has written a number of racing books. You might get hold of his books thru a US second hand books site.
Beyer is interesting, if a little unsatisfying. He coined the phrase 'pace makes the race', but knowing this is not a magic bullet to picking winners. To me, it doesn't mean much more than when a fast pace is set in a race, closers come into their own.
A warning on US racing. Races on dirt follow a different pattern to turf races. On dirt, all horses go out hard, so that almost always the last 200m is the slowest of the race, as all horses tire. Beyer and others analyse sectionals, eg, in a 1200 race, they analyse the first, middle, and last 400m, the idea being to identify races which will suit particular horses' racing patterns. If there are not many speed horses in a race, they look for horses with 'fast early fractions'.
Australian speed maps are a good way to get a feel for pace. Analyse some races, and see what the speed maps tell you.
Hope that helps.
Jackact