As a young uneducated punter , one of the first things my punting mentors told me was never back horses second up from a spell.

Does this still apply ?? It seems to me that it is still the case with exceptions. Gai gives all her horses 14 barriers trails before they race, so she is maybe an exception

I am not interested in horses that are 50/1 but horses in the market.

So can anyone tell me how favourites fare second up. If favs win 33% of races, how do they go when they are second up from a spell?

any thoughts, my learned friends , when doing your ratings is the second up syndrome a consideration ?

Strapper.

A first start can take the stuffing out of a horse, especially if it had a hard run or it was on a slow or heavy track. Horses that go well second up usually have a history of it. Depends a lot on the trainer too and how they have prep. the horse.

It is considered by form students, that horses second up in 1800m+ races, will have a serious fitness query over them, therefore best left alone in these instances.
They may run a placing but very rarely win.

With sprint races, 1400m & less it does not seem to matter so much.

Cheers.

__________________
Cheers.

Much depends on the training regime a horse has gone through.

In the UK it is more common to race for fitness over 1600 or 2000 as a first up run - not seen very much here.

I can also remember a Mike Moroney trained horse coming across from NZ a few years ago and landing a plunge first up over 1600 in South Australia.

I think he commented (in retrospect) 'Nobody in Australia at the time believed it could be successfully done'. That is first up over 1600.

Of course recently it has been done with some of the Robbie Laing chasers and stayers - having something like 12 trials before going straight over 3200 plus metres.

In regard to 2nd up runs ( and any other handicap feature) is the question
"How does this INDIVIDUAL horse go.?
In my opinion PROFILING each horses Characteristics is the go.
Easy as with a quality raceform like the Sportsman or a good quality data base.

Cheers.
darky

I agree Darky, but any newspaper has second up info. available now [Wed. and Sat. anyway].

One word of caution though, is quite often good 2nd up performance in a horse's stats. might only apply to when the horse was a 2 to 4yr. old, not when they are a 5 to 9yr old!