No matter how advanced you get at something, the fundamentals are still important. NBA players practice dribbling, passing and free throws. Professional baseball players practice hitting and catching. Good handicappers should review the fundamentals of their craft too.

It�s been my experience that most handicappers don�t know many of the fundamentals of handicapping. How they ever expect to join the top 2% or so maintaining a long-term profit is a mystery. Knowing the essentials won�t win the second race at Aqueduct for you tomorrow, but it will put you in line to improve your ROI in the long run.

One thing a good handicapper should know is the basic outlay of the track. Close your eyes (actually, read the next couple sentences and then close your eyes) and visualize the layout of a typical one-mile thoroughbred track. You should be able to tell me where each of the furlong poles is located. Can you? If you can, you�re better than the typical handicapper.

Let�s play 20 questions. Keeping in mind that people who cheat at solitaire and self-administered quizzes are a lower form of life than pond scum, keep track of how many of these you get correct. (Answers are below.)

1. How many furlongs in a mile?
2. How many feet in a furlong?
3. For comparison sake, about how many football fields would fit end-to-end in a furlong?
4. Where�s the eighth pole? (Don�t say, "an eighth of a mile from the finish." Approximately where is it placed on the typical one-mile American track?)
5. Where�s the quarter pole?
6. Where�s the three-eighths pole?
7. Where�s the half-mile pole?
8. Where�s the five furlong pole?
9. Where�s the three-quarters pole?
10. Where�s the seven-eighths pole?
11. Where�s the three-sixteenths pole?
12. Where�s the five-sixteenths pole?
13. Where are the quarter-mile and half-mile calls in a 5 furlong race?
14. Where are the quarter-mile and half-mile calls in a 6 � furlong race?
15. Where are the quarter-mile and half-mile calls in a 7 furlong race?
16. Where are the half-mile and three-quarter-mile calls in a 1 1/16 mile race?
17. Where are the half-mile and three-quarter-mile calls in a 1 1/8 mile race?
18. How much straightaway does a horse run in a 6 furlong race before entering the far turn?
19. How much straightaway does a horse run in a 7 furlong race before entering the far turn?
20. About how much farther is it to the far turn for a sprinter in an outside post position instead of the rail?

Answers:

1. eight
2. 660
3. You could fit two football fields end-to-end into a furlong and have 60 feet left over.
4. Everybody knows where the eighth pole is (visualize it) � it�s one furlong from the finish line, about midway between the end of the far turn and the finish line.
5. The quarter pole is usually placed just before the far turn straightens out into the homestretch.
6. The three-eighths pole is typically just a little way into the far turn.
7. The half-mile pole is on the backstretch, usually about a sixteenth of a mile from the start of the far turn.
8. The five furlong pole is typically directly across from the finish line on the backstretch.
9. The three-quarters pole is a bit before the end of the clubhouse turn before it straightens out into the backstretch.
10. The seven-eighths pole is just a little ways into the beginning of the clubhouse turn.
11. The three-sixteenths pole is typically right at the beginning of the homestretch.
12. The five-sixteenths pole is right in the middle of the far turn.
13. In a five furlong race, the quarter-mile call comes at the three-eighths pole, and the half-mile call comes at the eighth pole.
14. In a 6 � furlong race, the quarter-mile call comes at the 4 � furlong pole in the middle of the backstretch, and the half-mile call comes at the five-sixteenths pole, in the middle of the far turn.
15. In a seven furlong race, the quarter-mile call comes at the five furlong pole, and the half-mile call comes at the three-eighths pole.
16. In a 1 1/16 mile route, the half-mile call comes at the 4 � furlong pole (typically in the middle of the backstretch), and the three-quarter-mile call comes at the five-sixteenths pole in the middle of the far turn.
17. In a 1 1/8 mile route, the half-mile call comes at the five furlong pole, and the three-quarter-mile call comes at the three-eighths pole.
18. A horse in a six furlong race typically has about 2 � furlongs of straightaway before starting to enter the far turn.
19. A horse in a seven furlong race typically has about 3 � furlongs of straightaway before starting to enter the far turn.
20. A sprinter in an outside post position only has to run about a foot farther than a rail horse to get to the beginning of the far turn. 

Scoring:

20 correct: Potential handicapping god
15-19 correct: Top notch handicapper
10-14 correct: Good, but need a refresher course
5-9 correct: Fundamentals are weak
0-4 correct: Drugged monkeys can do better than this

Questions 13-20 begin to illustrate the importance of a knowledge of the fundamentals. For instance, a pace handicapper must know where the half-mile call occurs in a 6 � furlong race, or the amount of straightaway at the beginning of each sprint distance to analyze a past performance correctly.

If you�re in a losing streak, there�s nothing like reviewing your betting records or the handicapping basics to knock you out of it. Here are some reading suggestions if you want to spruce up your game by reviewing the fundamentals of handicapping: Picking Winners by Andrew Beyer, Ainslie�s Complete Guide to Thoroughbred Racing by Tom Ainslie, and The Complete Idiot�s Guide to Betting On Horses by Sharon B. Smith.