All,

Here is a concept from handicapping that seems to work well (because it is time consuming and people don't use it).

I am not sure how to explain it so I will just do an example.

See Eagle Farm Race 1 on 16/5/2007. For those who don't want to go search for the race here is the finishing order of the top 7 horses:

1	CONQUERING SPIRIT	58.5	.8	D GRIFFIN	9	$4.5	8450	3,2		GILLIAN HEINRICH
2	KEELROW	53.0	.8	AMY TAYLOR	12	$4.5	2600	9,6		TONY SEARS
3	LADY SHOWHEART	53.5	.9	S SEAMER	10	$15	1300	4,3		KEVIN KEMP
4	JELLICLES	55.0	1.1	S KATSIDIS	8	$7	650	1,1		KELLY SCHWEIDA
5	AGNES DREAM	55.5	1.3	C WHITELEY	1	$4.25F	0	2,4		ALAN BAILEY
6	CLASSIC FORCE	55.5	2.3	J BOWDITCH	6	$17	0	12 ,12		TREVOR BAILEY
7	JEWEL VAULT	54.0	3.5	B PENGELLY	11	$17	0	11 ,11		DESLEIGH FORSTER

Lets have a look at each horse from this race :

JEWEL VAULT - No Races Since
CLASSIC FORCE - No Races Since
AGNES DREAM - No Races Since
JELLICLES - WIN IPSWICH 30/5/2007
LADY SHOWHEART - WIN TOOWOOMBA 26/5/2007
KEELROW - No Races Since
CONQUERING SPIRIT -No Races Since

The only 2 horses which have had a race since this race have won. This points to a good indicator for the top two finishers who are yet to race again.

Based on this we can assume that KEELROW should be a likely winner in his next race as will CONQUERING SPIRIT.

We can extend this further to identify whether they went up or down in class to get the wins and we find that :

JELLICLES - WIN (DOWN IN CLASS 13K -> 7K)
LADY SHOWHEART - WIN (DOWN IN CLASS 13K -> 10K)

If we find KEELROW or CONQUERING SPIRIT running in a 10K race or under it would be worth a bet.

This is a real time example so we will have to wait for these 2 horses to run in order to see the outcome of the race.

But you have to agree it makes common sense.

Good Luck.