Pace handicapping is the art and science of estimating how a horse or horses will run in a race. The pace of the contest is how fast each horse runs at a particular part of a race. It measures their individual speed in parts of the race.
For instance, we measure early speed in the first quarter mile of a sprint. If a horse runs the fastest quarter mile of all the horses, it is the front runner. If a horse is very slow in the early stages of a race, it may have to come from far behind to win.
If horses were machines that always ran at exactly the same speed according to the jockey's wishes, it would be very easy to handicap a race using pace. Horses are living animals, however, and do not come with a gas pedal, speedometer, or a brake. They don't always run the first quarter or any other part of the race at the same speed.
