Draw guide to all meetings.

[Carl]

this may prove to be useful. AYR Two features stood out in 2005. Firstly, the strip next to the far rail again proved advantageous on the round course, particularly from September onwards when the rail was moved out to its full width. This meant that horses racing prominently again were at an advantage, with the winner making all in 9 of the 46 handicaps run on the round course. Secondly, over sprint distances, high numbers had much the better of things except for those races at the Western meeting where there was a big field and the far rail was at its furthest point, opening up fresh ground. Overall, 18 of the 22 sprint handicaps were won by a horse from the top half of the draw. 5f: 8 handicaps run in 2005, all bar two with the stalls on the stands side; Mecca’s Mate won a 7-runner affair from stall 1, but of the other 7 handicaps three were won by the highest-drawn horse, two more by the horse drawn one off the rail, and the other two winners were both in the five highest-drawn horses. This means that the top five stalls have now supplied the winner of 11 of the last 14 handicaps run over this trip. 6f: Both the Gold and Silver Cups were won by low-drawn horses, but there wasn’t actually much bias other than it was an advantage to race close to either rail. However, in the rest of the season a high draw had proved a big advantage, as had been the case in 2004. In the 11 other handicaps run at this trip, the winner came from the top half of the draw on every occasion bar Fullandby’s win in a six-runner affair. The far rail being moved out to its full width from September onwards seems to be the only time going across to that far side is a viable option for low-drawn horses. 7f: Stalls 1-3 accounted for 4 of the ten handicap winners, but the remaining six were all drawn 9 or higher. Three of the ten winners made all the running, and only one did not race prominently, meaning that in the last two years 17 of the 20 7f handicaps here have been won by horses racing prominently throughout. 1m: It was a big advantage to be drawn very low at this trip, with 9 of the 15 winners being drawn in stalls 1-3; again, most of the winners raced prominently. 1m1f: Only 4 handicaps run in 2005, but the trend for low-drawn winners continued, with stalls 1-3 providing three of the four winners, albeit in smallish fields. 1m2f: 8 handicaps run in 2005, with the winners evenly spread across the draw spectrum at this trip. 1m3f+: 9 handicaps run in 2005; 7 of the 9 handicaps were won by horses from the bottom four stalls.

[Carl]

Re: Draw guide to all meetings. BATH The two strongest pointers for punters were the same as in 2004; high numbers continued to do well in sprints, especially when the pace was strong, and front-runners tended to face a tough task unless the opposition was very weak (only 4 handicap winners made all from 63 races). 5f11y and 5f161y: 19 handicaps run in 2005; the double trend from previous years continued, with very low numbers doing well in steadily-run races (six wins from stalls 1-3) but high numbers dominating when there was a decent pace (nine winners from the top third of the draw). The percentage is probably still to go high, especially in big fields; since 2000, in handicaps with 15 runners or more, stalls 1-5 are only 5-158 for a loss of 117 pts, and 22 of the 33 handicap winners in that time came from the top half of the draw. 1m: As had been the case in 2004, low numbers fared poorly, going against the grain of what might be expected on this left-handed track; stalls 1-4 managed only 3 wins from 64 handicap runs, with the front-runners again often going off too fast. 1m2f+: No obvious advantage from a draw point of view, but again hold-up horses fared better than prominent racers, whilst no horse made all in any of the 27 handicaps run at 1m2f or further.