[Because I Can Jim]

Hi Terry,

Thanks for the post!

The learned the concept of the fulcrum pace and fulcrum horse from the chapter in the first edition of the book "Pace Makes The Race" by Michael Pizzolla and also from his other book "Handicapping Magic."

Basically, the idea is to project a pace of race. When you are using a paceline that had the horse first at the 2C, that POR time is the same as the POH which is easy enough. When you are using a line for the fulcrum that does not have the horse on the lead, then you are "adjusting" the fulcrum time by taking the POR time and adding in the beaten lengths of the horse.

So, as an example, if we are using a line that has a 46.1 POR and the horse is 1 beaten length off the pace, you are adjusting the POR to account for the beaten lengths. The POR times are in 10ths of a second. The beaten lengths are in lengths.

Beaten lengths have been equated to 1/5th of a second. (As a quick aside, how long is a beaten length? Hard to tell. Different horses are different lengths and when they are moving/running it is even more difficult to tell how much a beaten length equates to. Howard Sartin settled on one beaten length as 1/5th of a second which is just as good as any other time measurement because it is all relative.)

So, in our example, one beaten length is 1/5th of a second. However, the POR times are in 10ths of a second. So you have to double it. (1/5th = 0.2 tenths) We add the 46.1 and 0.2 to get 46.3 for our fulcrum time. (If the beaten lengths were 3, then I would add 0.6 to the 46.1 and get 46.7.)

Remember, I am using the fulcrum to setup a way of thinking about the race. If a horse cannot compete at that time (we know the horse we have taken it from can) out it goes as a non-contender.

Also, when selecting a paceline for the fulcrum horse, you are not "locked into" the fulcrum paceline. These are two separate concepts although intimately related and most of the time I will use the fulcrum line as the paceline for the fulcrum horse. But, that does not mean that I would not go past that last line just like I would when selecting a paceline for any other horse.

Hope that helps you.

Also Terry, I saw your question about running styles in the thread from Bill. He provided you with the Running Styles section from Jim Bradshaw's 5 step process.

I was thninking about making a video or two about running styles and maybee even doing it as an example when I handicap a race. I have been very busy lately and have it sitting in the back of my mind. If you have any other questions about it that you might want me to address, I will see what I can come up with. Just post them as a quick reply to this thread.

Best of luck,

Jim