Benny

I'd call anything up to 18 days (2.5 weeks) recent racing but you'd be better off considering how many runs a horse had had within a given period. But from a fitness angle, have a look at how many runs a horse has had during a given period, say 28 days. If the horse is "proven" ie had a number of runs during its career, check the number of days break between its most successful efforts as quite often there will be a distinguishable pattern there to use as a guide.

For the record, I think that you left out one of the most important periods when assessing form 1 - 7 days. Horses backing up quickly, particularly those that have won or placed last start invariably run very well again.

Cheers

Privateer