For a sample of The SHORTS, click here.
(Churchill Downs 05/06/06)

LEGEND for "The SHORTS"

AT the beginning of each race, you will find the race number, track, date, distance and surface.

To the right of the horse's name, in parentheses, is the assigned weight, and the number further to the right shows how many days the horse has been away since it last raced (unless the last race was at a track we don't cover).

The last three calendar years are presented for each horse, with the most recent race on the left. Each race has seven vertical lines with LINE SEVEN being the DATE, and LINE FOUR the TRACK and DISTANCE in FURLONGS. Note that all races at one mile or more are in bold face to distinguish them from sprints. A dotted vertical line between races indicates a race (or races) at tracks we currently don't cover.

The two most important lines for evaluating condition are LINE ONE (the FINAL number) and LINE THREE (the four furlong PACE number).

LINE TWO is used to show surface information and dirt pattern codes. Blank space is a dirt race. ///// is TURF.

LINE FIVE shows the six furlong number for races longer than 3/4 mile. For instance, if the race was at 7 furlongs, LINE ONE is the final number (7 furlongs), LINE THREE the pace number (four furlongs), LINE FIVE the six furlong number. If there is no number on LINE FIVE, the race was at six furlongs or less. On the dirt, these six furlong numbers can uncover some wonderful overlays in turnback situations. On the turf, LINE FIVE is also the six furlong number. Here, it is useful for looking at the horse's finishing ability in grass races.

LINE SIX displays the two furlong number in dirt sprints and measures velocity for the first quarter mile. This number can be useful when an extreme speed bias exists or to find the "speed of the speed." In turf races, LINE SIX is used to denote turf pattern codes.

A double dash (--) signifies we did not calculate a number for the race. You will see this for some of the minor tracks. A tilde (~) indicates that no number was calculated because the horse didn't finish the race or because weather conditions or timing issues did not allow us to accurately assess beaten lengths.

After years of research, we have concluded that the 4F (four furlong) pace number is the most useful to use in conjunction with the final number to evaluate condition. For that reason, these two numbers are near the top as this is where your attention should be focused. As you get more comfortable reading The SHORTS, you will realize that 90% of your decisions will revolve around the interplay and patterns inherent in these two numbers. All the other data is used to build on this foundation.