[Thunder Gulch]

I've toyed with all of them, more with T-Graph than the others simply because they allow you to look at a "race of the week" and often have similar promotions to get you educated on their product without having to pay retail prices during trial and error.

X-tras will send you previous days sheets to let you learn that way, which is a very good P.R. move on their part to introduce you. They use similar sheet formats and incorporate pace figures, while TG and Rags dismiss pace as an important factor in most instances.

At the end of the day, I think all figures have their positives and their negatives, and really don't think any figure is significantly better than another. "Sheets" style figures are better for identifying patterns and more importantly, they don't drive prices down like Beyer's do. Nothing wrong with Beyers if you understand how they are created, except they are so mainstream that top figure horses get hit hard at the windows. I actually prefer objective figures to subjective figures that sheets provide. That way I can make my own judgements without somebody trying to quantify the effect of going wide or carrying a few extra lbs.

The critical thing with any of them is learn what you are looking at and how best to use them. I'm amazed at how many people use Beyers (or other) as their primary handicapping tool and have no idea how they are calculated.