[For The Lead]

Here is race 5 from PEN today.
The reason I picked this race is because it has A TON of early speed horses in it.
It is a field of 8 starters and there are no less than 6 early types.
In this type of race it is not unusual for handicappers to look for a horse that comes off the pace, with the idea that a speed duel will weaken the front runners and a closer will pick up the pieces coming down the stretch. As I have mentioned before, this is a scenario that seldom plays out the way it seems. Instead, one of the early types will dominate the early pace. This relegates the other early types to chasers, a position they don’t like. This race played out in this fashion. I’ll go over the field now.

This is a Starter Allowance race. To be eligible, a horse had to have started for a claiming price of $6,250 or less since March 1, 2012.
#1 – last line. It is a “+” race from 22 days ago. It is a race across the same track and at a similar sprint distance.
#2 – last line. It is a “+” race from 16 days ago. There is no choice here. Every race in the horse’s PP’s are from FL, so it will have to do.
#3 – no line. I prefer not to use lines from CT and I especially don’t want to use lines from CT from 4.5 furlong races. Please note, I will not go back to line 7, which is a race at a similar distance across the PEN track. THAT was THEN. THIS is NOW! For those who are interested, I did put this horse in off its’ last line, just to see. It ranked no better than 3rd in the early mix. I also use line 7 and it ranked worse.
#4 – no line. Its’ only two races in the last 90 days are quite dull.
#5 – last line. It is a “+” race across today’s track just 9 days ago at today’s distance.
#6 – last line. It is a “+” race across today’s track just 23 days ago at today’s distance.
#7 – last line. It is a “+” race across today’s track just 26 days ago at a similar sprint distance.
#8 – last line. It is a “(+)” race across today’s track just 22 days ago at a similar distance.

I have marked up areas of the various screen shots to point out the attributes of the winner, as well as noting the multitude of early horses in the race.

The winner, #8, paid $8.60.