Yeah Mak. I noticed this when Phelan Ready won the Magic Millions and paid about $90. He came from barrier 9 in the big field and I had him rated 4th considering barriers 1 to 9. Admittedly this was done as a bit of retrospective research (although what data can you have if you don't have retrospective - futuristic data would be good, especially if we could get on) with the selected horses fitting the results. I haven't really done any follow up as I tend to have a short attention span.
Might try listing the top 4 barriers 1 to 9 in fields of 15 plus and see how it goes. Keep your eye out for another grandiose, academic sounding posting by me. The anonymity of the web allowing my inner spiv the cloak of seeming respectability.
By the way, the rest of you out there, have a go at the comps. We're lucky that the boys go to the trouble of putting these on for us. Besides, I'm tired of winning them nearly all the time.